While there is no harm in taking this line of thought, the problem with this reasoning is that it does not really help the sufferer or explain his suffering. It is primarily to defend God, to use words and ideas to transform bad into good and pain into privilege. In a way, we also try to establish that God is the cause of our suffering and also make ourselves feel guilty in addition to the burden of tragedy.
The author has taken altogether different view of the situation. He cannot imagine of a God who can be cruel at any time. He has tried to establish that life consists of good and bad things. And happening of bad things is as much a matter of chance, as those of good things in anybody's life. God does not want bad things to happen but perhaps it is not in His hands. He also does not want bad things to happen as much as we want. Some are caused by bad luck, some are caused by bad people and some are simply an inevitable consequence of our being human and being mortal, living in a world of inflexible natural laws. The painful things that happen to us are not punishment for our misbehaviour, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God's part. Because the tragedy is not God's will, we need not feel hurt or betrayed by God when tragedy strikes. Instead, we can turn to Him for help in overcoming it because God is as outraged by the tragedy as we are.
And this is how bad things have a meaning in the lives of good people. It turns them to God all the more. That is to say, bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us. They do not happen for any good reason which would cause us to accept them willingly. But we can give meaning to them. We can redeem these tragedies from senselessness by imposing meaning upon them. The question we should be asking is not ‘Why did this happen to me?' 'What did I do to deserve this?' That is really an unanswerable, pointless question. A better question would be ‘Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it ?’
And this is where God comes to our help in the form of a good friend, a good relative, a good idea or courage. God inspires some people to help others who have been hurt by life. God makes them want to become doctors and nurses, to spend days and nights of self-sacrificing concern with an intensity for which no money can compensate, in an effort to sustain life and alleviate pain. And this concern, courage, in due course gives a meaning to the tragedy.
In the end, the author concludes that his own tragedy had a great meaning. He believes that his son served God’s purpose not by being sick or strange-looking (there was no reason why God should have wanted that), but by facing up so bravely to his illness and to the problems caused by his appearance. His friends and schoolmates were affected by his courage and by the way he managed to live a full life despite his limitations. The people who knew his family were moved to handle the difficult times in their own lives with greater hope and courage when they saw this example.
None of us can avoid the problem of why bad things happen to good people. The question is ‘Are we capable of forgiving and loving the people around us, even if they have hurt us and let us down by not being perfect. Can we forgive and love God even when we have found out that He is not perfect, even when He has let us down and disappointed us by permitting bad luck and sickness and cruelty in His world, and permitting some of these things to happen to us ?'
And if we can do these things, we shall be able to recognise that the ability to forgive and to love are the weapons God has given us to enable us to live fully, bravely and meaningfully in this less-than-perfect world. The question ‘Why bad things happen to good people’ will then lose its significance.
Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.
Adversity introduces a man to himself.
Adversity is afraid of one who is not afraid of adversity.
Adversity makes man wise but not rich.
A winner gets scars too.
