How The World Could Be

Pain indicates that life has potential for meaning: I'm reading a book by Donald Miller called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years and Miller made this statement after reflecting on a story of a Nazi who saw all the pain the Jews were put through.

The world was once gray, flat, and inanimate. The world had nothing pretty and nothing ugly either. No stories to tell about the painful adventures climbers had climbing Denali. No wedding celebration or baby shower celebrating a beautiful covenant or a new life. We never saw a sunset or caught a glimpse of a 4 mile high mountain from hundreds of miles away. Nobody ever discovered the theory of gravity or cared what happened when you sent electrons through a double slit.

The good thing about this world was that we would never worry about being hurt. No one ever put their trust in someone, so there was no way to be betrayed. No one ever loved anyone, so there could never be heartbreak. No one ever had aspirations to raise money by selling text books to give the money to people who were in pain. Why would anyone think of this anyways since there was no earthquake and there was no genocide? No one expected the father to love his family and stay committed to them for his lifetime. Nobody ever lived an entire life in depression. They had no chance to encourage a friend who struggled with the same pain they felt.

I could never claim that I've lived a painful life but the pain I have felt and seen and the joy have felt and seen indicates to me that life has meaning.