Bad Things Happen, But There Are Always Good People

11-16-2022

By Stephen Apollo

In last week’s edition of the Herald, Danushka Dilshan, invited us to an important shift from the question of “Why did it happen?' to 'What do I do now that it has happened?' This invitation pushed me to think of one of the often raised questions in regard to evil and suffering, ‘Why do bad things happen to good people?’ Some people have even asked the reverse, ‘Why do good things happen to bad people.’ When I was still battling with these questions, I came across another dimension that was reported by the Chicago Tribune,which to me is the most powerful and positive way of looking at evil and suffering.

The newspaper reported about a commemoration service that happened on October 30, 2022, to commemorate a horrible train crash that happened 50 years ago. The crash left 45 people dead and 331 passengers injured, and it has been referred to as the deadliest rail crash in Chicago’s history. Survivors and family members of those who perished in the crash, gathered at the First Unitarian Church of Chicago in Hyde Park, and the survivors recalled the fatal day and what it really means to them today. Lisa Klare, one of the survivors, remembered the kindness the people showed to the victims, especially the first responders. Klare beautifully summarized her experience of that day using these powerful words, “Bad things happen, but there are always good people, and that’s what gets me by.”[1]

While I insist that we should ask questions in episodes of evil and suffering, including the ‘why’ question, I believe it is more fulfilling to show up in contexts of evil and suffering, with an explicit identity of goodness and a deep persuasion of justice. More often than not, bad things happen through human commission and omission. That when we pray in the Lord’s prayer ‘let your kingdom come,’ we are actually inviting the reign of God in the world: a reign of truth, justice, and love. Consequently, this calls us to two actions: First to empathetically attend to the victims of evil and injustice and secondly, to ask the critical question of why they have gone through evil and suffering. Pragmatically, even as we feed the hungry, we must also ask why they are hungry in the first place.

As such, in the midst of rampant evil and suffering around us today, are you a good person? For bad things happen, but there are always good people, who not only keep away from being perpetrators of evil and suffering, but they also launch an all-out attack on evil and suffering.

Reference

[1] Tatyana Turner. “Bad things happen, but there are always good people.’ Survivors recall deadliest train crash in Chicago history on 50th anniversary. Chicago Tribune, October 31, 2022. You can read the article here.

Stephen Apollo