On Suffering…

OK, so that’s not a real upbeat title.  But it’s been on my mind.  Ever since I watched “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” last week on Netflix.  Oh my Heavens.  Can you say mind-blowing?  This movie, set in War War II, is about the Nazi concentration camps.  I really don’t want to elaborate further, but check out the premise here.

What happened to me after I saw this movie was that I just couldn’t stop thinking about suffering.  This movie made me think about it so much.  We think we suffer here, yet most of the time we really don’t.  We have so many comforts, so many privileges, so much to be thankful for, yet at times we complain.  It’s hard to watch a movie about the subject matter in “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and not do a “double-take” at my life.  I don’t ever have the right to complain.  It’s so easy to get caught up in details of this world we live in, that we forget that we are so privileged.  We don’t suffer daily heartache, daily physical pain, or daily persecution.  Yet so many do.  And we never give it a thought.

When I think about the suffering in Haiti or the unimaginable suffering of World War II concentration camps, I can become breathless.  It just is too much to bear, and that is just THINKING about it, and not living it.

I am so grateful to not have to suffer these terrible tragedies, yet I do think it is important to remember just how lucky we are.  And to never, ever forget those who are suffering.


“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ” 
Romans 8:18