One of the most difficult questions for us humans is “Why [him/her/them/me]??” Ultimately, this question relates to Good vs Evil: why do bad things happen to good people? The answer to this question may not be welcome in four of the five stages of loss and grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These 5 stages of normal grief were defined by Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book “On Death and Dying” and are now referred to as the Kübler-Ross model.
The answer to this question – and its implicit unfair treatment – is further complicated as we tend to overestimate our own importance. In the eyes of gods, we humans may be much like the colony of ants in our garden. When you remove a few ants, the colony is temporarily in disarray. However, within a few minutes it’s business as usual again. Essentially, we humans act the same.
In my opinion, we are only able to deal with this question as of the stage of acceptance. With the knowledge of hindsight certain things can suddenly make sense. In my case it did. It took an awful lot of self analysis though and some “lucky” breakthroughs. The result is priceless.
Moreover, we tend to see them as bad things. Our first instinct is to look at it from a negative point of view. This rather generic human outlook on life usually prevents us from seeing things from another perspective. Perhaps the right question is: why do things happen to people?
The most obvious answer to that question is that things happen to people for a reason. Nowadays, I am seeing life through that lens and it actually helps me in understanding it. Seeing things as random events only provokes anger, frustration, impotence, irritation and prostration.
Acknowledging that things may happen to us for a reason also implies acknowledging that we are part of a Bigger Picture. That Bigger Picture implies the existence of a Supreme Being (eg, Allah, Buddha, God, Yahweh) – a Creator with a Master Plan.
Beyond the above question are some other hidden questions: why is there still – and so much – Evil in our world? Why hasn’t Good eradicated Evil after so many thousands – or millions – of years?
Essentially, most Good and Evil are of a human nature, either directly or indirectly, conscious or unconscious, accidental or intentional, external or self-inflicted. Nevertheless, it feels differently to us. Good and Evil feel like forces that play with humans as if we are ants, puppets on a string, or two opposing soccer teams to them. And taking sides comes with benefits.
Fear and Love seem to be two crucial elements in understanding the hidden questions. Our love for God and for our fellow humans has been replaced for the love of goods, information, money, time and the victory over our opponents. Our fear of other humans is bigger than our fear of God’s wrath.
The result is an absolute weakening of one of the soccer teams, and thus a relative strengthening of the other team. This soccer match is an eternal match with new players coming along all the time. So there is always Hope even when Faith – or morale – is temporarily down.
Brooklyn Funk Essentials – The Creator has a Master Plan (1995) – artists, lyrics, Wiki
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