When I made my "I Like Ike" post, I not only posted it here, I also posted it on a forum... and I quickly regretted it. People slammed me for finding something good in something so bad. People flat out told me "You should hate the cool weather because others are hurting because of the hurricane" [not a direct quote]. Granted, I should have been more respectable in my posting (that is why I took the "I Like Ike" button off of my post), but I still stand by what I said.
In the days following, I thought more about it, and it didn't make sense that I should suffer simply because others are suffering. How many people are homeless in my town alone? Should I not find beauty and love in this world while there are people on the streets? (Yes, Christ calls us to serve the poor and needy, but I don't think that the message is "You can't find any sort of happiness in life until every person in the world is not suffering".)
Anywho, after that I was reading "Prentice Alvin" by Orson Scott Card, and a passage caught my attention:
(Some background: it is the early 1800's, and Alvin is trying to rescue a child who has been kidnapped and is on his way to slavery.)
Alvin stood beside Horace, masked by shadows at the riverbank, waiting for a well-lighted riverboat to pass. Out on the boat, musicians were playing, and people danced a fancy quadrille on the decks. It made Alvin angry, to see them playing like children when a real child was being carried off to slavery tonight. Still, he knew they meant no harm, and knew it wasn't fair to blame others for being happy while somebody they didn't even know might be grieving. By that measure, there'd be no happiness in all the world, Alvin figured. Life being how it is, Alvin thought, there's not a moment in the day when there ain't at least a few hundred people grieving about something.
So yes, I feel bad about the hurricane, and I empathize with those that are hurting and suffering, but that doesn't mean that I can't find beauty and love in the cool weather that the hurricane brought.
(Yes, I am being defensive about this... but even while I sound strong in the post, I still wonder if I am viewing this wrong. What is your thought? Am I in the right for seeing beauty while others are hurting, or should I understand that the horrific nature of the event drowns out the beauty I see?)
Matthew
1 comments:
I agree with you. I think you're entirely justified in enjoying the cool weather. The fact that other people are suffering doesn't make the cool weather less cool. It's doesn't make it less enjoyable. Yes, we should pray (and more if we can) for the people whose entire monetary existence has been washed into the sea, but we should still praise God for His goodness. Even in view of the hurricane, God SHOULD have let more people die (if we only look at what they deserve), and he certainly could have allowed more destruction, but we can praise Him for His goodness in protecting the ones who He did protect and in teaching His children to respond in the massively charitable ways that they have responded.
God is good all the time.
All the time, God is good.
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