Suffering as a way of life

Title

Creator

Macabinlar, Samuel R.

Language

English

Year

1965

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

SUFFERING as a WAY OF LIFE By SAMUEL R. MACABINLAR, AB-II ONLY YESTERDAY you were walking in laughter and vigor; suf fering was a far-off shadow. Then suddenly suffering struck. It un hinged you, brought you to a world of sorrow. And now you are alone in agony, an unwilling initiate into the fellowship of pain. Your reaction is to rail fretfully against fate, to resent bitterly such untimely interference with life’s routine. Yet your sufferings can confer many substantial benefits. It sharpens your mental and spirit ual perceptions, permits a much clearer perspective of your life. Suffering should be regarded as an opportunity to think of our in ner selves and to contemplate that mere laughter and happiness can not possibly bestow what we seek for in life. I’m not speaking of those chronic sufferers whose suf ferings doom them to a life of in validism. The late President John F. Kennedy was a triumphant pro totype of a conqueror of pain. During his presidential campaigns, Kennedy suffered physical pains so acutely that his health was made an issue by those who contested his candidacy. On top of that he was racked by a major issue; his being a Catholic. Yet despite these obstacles, he won and became the first Catholic president of the United States. But our interest here centers on the ordinary mortals who are stricken less harshly. Some suf ferers rarely learn to make the most of suffering, regarding it only as a visit of bad luck. Like any other experience of life, pain and suffering change us. How? Well, one thing is that we are temporarily relieved from the pres sure of happiness in the world of temptations. But suffering takes many forms. It may be physical, mental or emotional. Illness, for instance, knocks a lot of nonsense out of us. It enables us to throw a searchlight upon our inner selves and to discover how rarely we ra tionalize our failures and weak nesses. When we are sick, we realize that we are not of this world. We think of God, discover that eternal life cannot be attain ed here and that this is only a way to heaven. We enter into the realm of introspection and self-analysis. We think perhaps for the first time about our present and future. We discover secret depths of our own life-stream. Pain and suffering confer spirit ual insight, a beauty of outlook, a philosophy of life, an understand ing — a quality of serenity — that can hardly be acquired when we are in normal conditions. Suffer ing is a cleansing fire that burns away triviality and restlessness. For every suffering there is always joy. Student life, for instance, is not easy. We have to burn mid night candles in order to pass. In this many students, especially the poor ones, encounter obstacles. We meet different types of instructors and professors. There are the hypocrites, who do not realize that they themselves were students once. Then there are lousy ones, and the strict type. With this diversity of instruction we have to undergo different pains before we can succeed. There are also stu dents, particularly the rich ones who do not realize labor and suf fering, until they suffer failing grades. When suffering comes in, it is time to think. We make plans and we definitely decide upon the things we still put into action to recover our failure, in short we regret our errors. Because of suffering, our concentration improves tremen dously. We are astonished to find how easily we can think a difficult problem through to its solution. Why? Because our instincts have speeded up. Time becomes an un imagined luxury. Time to think, time to enjoy, time to build air castles, time at last to express the best and deepest part of human na ture. Suffering is one of the greatest privileges of life; it whispers that man’s destiny is bound up with transcendental powers. It takes off the non-essential parts of life and leaves one with the essence of it. We should remind ourselves that suffering may teach us some thing valuable, something that we could not have learned otherwise. It may change us for the better course of life. Yes, suffering is a way of life, a pathway to success, a gateway to heaven. # Aug.-Sept., 1965 THE CAROLINIAN Page Thirteen

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