Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Big Question: Does suffering truly bring out the best in human nature? Does it reveal the true side of our character, or the most distorted?
If we are a human born into this world by a father and mother, without our own hand in our conception, we are privy to the crisis and misfortune that accompany life. Suffering. Most people don't purposefully stick their hand on a burner to soak in the sheer pleasure that arises from the smell of searing flesh and crisp exposed nerves. Most people don't enjoy losing a spouse or child to stage four cancer. Ask the successful man on the bus reading the newspaper if he would like to lose everything he's ever worked for in a tragic financial crash and live out the rest of his life in destitute poverty. But try as we may, not one of us- no not one- can predict or avoid the hurt and suffering that seems to hurdle itself in our direction. Who we are when we are faced with ultimate disaster, the pain of loss, the sting of intense human distress, can that fairly and accurately dictate or describe our base human nature? There are stories about men and women rising above circumstances to achieve heroic stature, to overcome suffering and become better people for it. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and critically acclaimed author of Night, witnessed horror upon horror during his enslavement at Auschwitz. The extent of this young man's suffering is immeasurable as he lost every family member dear to him in the death camps and gas chambers, taking the hate of an entire nation deceived by a malicious lie, experiencing the worst evil an individual can go through. And yet he became an advocate for those who were not as fortunate to survive, he became a beacon of light for the witness of the unconquerable human spirit. Luke Skywalker. The iconic hero-turned- villian goes through tremendous suffering and anguish with the loss of his mother and ultimately identity. After another and another miserable move, Luke practically murders his own wife, the mother of his children. Fictional or not, this is a prime example of one individuals "dark" turn after experiencing an emotionally trying crisis and suffering. Instead of expelling fear, hurt, strife like Weisel, this character internalizes and lets the self-torturous elements in himself brew. So, really this is the ultimate question. Who are we when we experience the most monstrous pain and suffering? It is the defining quality that separates the wheat from the chaff, the mire from the muck.
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Hi, Lauren.
ReplyDeleteOooooh, this is one of my favorite questions.
Do traumatic or trying times show our true nature, or do they twist it into something almost unrecognizable? I was also engrossed by Wiesel’s writing, and if you haven’t read it, also recommend Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal. It is a fascinating study of the human spirit, and a philosophical exploration of the question of guilt, redemption, and forgiveness. One of the points he makes early in the book is that the best of his generation didn’t survive the camps; the other side of the coin is that the worst, or in many cases the toughest, most selfish and most vicious among him were the ones who often survived. That makes a poor argument for “survival of the fittest,” doesn’t it? Some talk about suffering like fire, and that it can have a certain refining quality, like separating the metal from the dross in a crucible. But there are plenty of examples of suffering propagating itself, as it tends to, for instance, in an abused child who grows up to abuse his own children. I think that anyone who can transform such suffering into love is truly heroic.
Your comments on Oedipus are insightful, and I’m happy to see you not condemning him as so many readers do. What this tragedy forced Greeks to question, in some way, was the cruelty of the gods, but one can always rationalize and blame Iokaste & Laius for their disrespect of prophecy. Oedipus, as you say, hurtles toward his own doom for the sake of self-knowledge and his city’s safety. Hopefully we don’t all have to suffer so to truly know ourselves, but still your question hovers out there all the time—does someone born in privilege who has had an easy life ever truly become all they can be? Or does it take some hardship, some fire, to burn away the sludge that can encrust the soul? I look forward to hearing where you go with this.