After visiting a very ill friend or someone in a dire situation, people sometimes say the visit puts their troubles into perspective. Indeed our suffering is small compared to the life situation of four-fifths of the world’s population. A stubbed toe and angina both hurt, it is just that one has repercussions far beyond the other.
It turns out that competitive suffering is not helpful as a spiritual exercise. To compare the pain of different people even in related situations and to attempt to judge who suffers more doesn’t help anyone. The spiritual issue is the effect of the suffering. The question is always what we do with the suffering.
Comparing the rate of gun violence in Chicago 20 years ago with that of today misses the experience of the ones who lost a loved one then or now. Even more, it fails to discern the effect of social networks – churches, community centers, neighborhood groups, and political organizations – that both influence the response to and are themselves shaped by violence.
Was the social network 20 years ago more or less robust in its response to suffering caused by violence than it is today?
People in the Netherlands spontaneously lined the streets to witness a cortege of the first 40 hearses that made their way from the airport to a forensic lab after MH17 was shot down. This act accomplished something; it afforded a national community a response of respect for life while yet suffering from the effects of violence.
Our spiritual question is: What do we do with the suffering of people in this world? What do we do with our own?
Grace and Peace.
