March 1, 2013

My Pessimistic View On Life

Woodcut for "Long-Suffering of God"
Woodcut for "Long-Suffering of God" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
No matter how much I could personally enjoy being alive, as long as I know there have been people being burnt alive, by natural cause or by man made, as long as I know there are unlimited kinds of similar sufferings, I would not think human life is worth living. The reason is that I truly believe, millions even billions happy lives, cannot compensate a single person's suffer like this.

Naturally, my next question has to be: why does it have to be this way? Why did our almighty and loving creator produce so many possibilities - mostly our physical fragility - for innocents suffering like this?

7 comments:

  1. I think that in life many people blame God instead of blaming themselves. We know we have the ability to make choices, so we choose to pull the trigger or stab the victim or abuse our colleague, and the list is endless. God has given us free choice so why do we blame God when we make a bad choice? On the flip-side, I feel that many people would say that they had no choice if God intervened every 5 minutes and forced us to do the right thing according to Him, if you know what I mean.

    Man in general has a lot to answer to. We have turned this world into what it is today. It doesn't have to be this way. It takes each individual person to stop and say, I want peace so let's negotiate and live together in harmony. I can't see this happening myself but it does exist in certain places on earth.
    Very interesting post Yun Yi.

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  2. I, too, have struggled with the issue of human suffering, as you know. I, too, have asked the hard questions that don't have pat answers. Evil does exist. I wish it didn't. But true love gives freedom - and God has given us choices. We have done an absolutely awful job of it - and yet, as I ponder evil and its realities, I also sense good and its realities - and have hope, both for true justice to come, and for the time when all is set right at last... Each of us must puzzle our own way through the maze - may you find the answers you seek!

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  3. @RPD Thanks for your thoughtful input.

    @Melody, Part of me is still an optimist, though sometime I could be absorbed in some pessimistic questions. I don't think I could ever find answer.

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  4. yunyi, this reminds me of one of the first aphorisms I ever wrote: "I'm an optimist about myself but a pessimist about the world." Meaning that I believe in the possibility of my own happiness but not the possibility of a happy world.

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  5. np, you aphorism summarizes this view perfectly!

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  6. It bothers me too, but I know we have all suffered in some way. We need to reach out to others by being kind in our lives and giving money to our country's unicef.

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