Week 9--The continued reflection of, "Why Bad things happen to Good People?"

I suggest viewing the video first and then reading the blog.

Two very dear friends of mine inspired this entry. Julie’s comment on one of my recent postings kept me reflecting this concept of Theodicy (why do bad things happen to good people?). So this week I continued my reflection, as I always do, surrounding this question. On Friday I believe God spoke to me through the mouth of Diane. She described a case she had earlier that day of man who was trying to break up a fight, was accidentally shot and died leaving behind a wife and one year old child. Unfortunately this is all too common of a thing for chaplains and medical staff who work in a Trauma center to deal with. But eventually these cases do begin to wear and cause individuals, myself included, to ask this age old question once again.

Julie made a very good point when she mentioned the title of the book, “When bad things happen to good people.” The emphasis is on the word when in this title. Bad things do happen and there is not much we can do to stop it. The clip from M*A*S*H* paints all to clear a picture of this. Tommy Gillis, an old friend of Hawkeye's, is writing a book about the war, and pays him a visit. Later, Tommy is brought into the camp, seriously wounded, and Hawkeye can't save him. Hawkeye breaks down and cries causing Henry to leave the operating room as well. Henry says a very famous line at that moment: “Look, all I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules about a war and rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one.” I don’t claim to be a doctor nor am I claiming that we are in the midst a war at our hospital but we do see violence every single day. People die every single day because of drugs, race, and petty violence. We are not living in the midst of a war like the Korean War but rather in the midst of stupidity. It is because of this stupidity, this childlike behavior that causes adults to believe the only way to solve a problem is to fight, kills innocent people everyday and causes individuals to ask this same old question. It enforces the two rules that Henry Blake states to continue and causes many to lose hope in humanity.

This past week I also had a case where a young man, only 22 years old, was brought in the Trauma bay after sustaining a major blow to the head from a skateboarding accident. I sat in the room and listened as the neurosurgeon told the patient’s mother and sister that there is not much to do; the surgery that needed to be preformed would be radical and mostly likely not work. I watched as his mother and sister cried and begged God to heal the young man. Two days later the patient died and now his family was left with the question, “where are you God?” and “Why didn’t you heal my son, my brother?”

“Look, all I know is what they taught me at command school. There are certain rules about a war and rule number one is young men die. And rule number two is doctors can't change rule number one.” There is nothing we can do to change the actions that occur. Good people do die but there are still many good people left in this world to make a difference, the take a stance, and make a difference. It is never fair for a parent to bury their child. There is no logic in that but there is logic in the cross. There is a God who loves and who promises us comfort and forgiveness free of charge. Thank God for grace and thank God for the ability to wake up every morning and breath.