雙語閱讀｜生命何以堅韌—

We can be tough in suffering

My daughter was very ill when she was。。。 well when she was a kid

Particularly when she was a teenager。

She had a very terrible time of it。

She had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and when she was between the ages of and， it first destroyed her hip which had to be replaced。

And then it destroyed the ankle on her other leg which had to be replaced。

She walked around for years on broken legs and she was taking massive doses of opiates and could hardly stay awake。

And she had this advanced auto-immune disease which produced all sorts of other symptoms that were just as bad as the joint degeneration， but which are harder to describe。

And so it was just bloody brutal！

You know， as a test of your faith there‘s almost nothing that’s more direct than a serious illness inflicted upon an innocent child。

The chapter‘s a meditation on that， and also on what do in a situation like that， because everyone is going to have a situation like that， In some sense， you know， because you’ll be faced with illness in the people that you love and in crisis， so it‘s a practical guide to coping with those sorts of things。

And one of the things you do when you’re overwhelmed by crisis is you shorten your timeframe。

It‘s like you can’t think about next month， maybe you can‘t even bloody well think about next week or maybe not even tomorrow， because now is just so overwhelming that that’s all there is。

And that‘s what you do， you cut your timeframe back until you can cope with it。

If it’s not the next week that you see how to get through， then it‘s the next day， and if it’s not the next day， then it‘s the next hour， and if it’s not the next hour， then it‘s the next minute！

And you know， people are very very very very tough。

It turns out that if you face things that you can put up with a lot more than you think you can put up with and you can do it without becoming corrupted。

The idea is that you know You have to be alert when you’re suffering， you have to be alert to the beauty in life， the unexpected beauty in life。

You know， you have to look for those little bit of sparkling crystal in the darkness when things are bad。

You have to look and see where things are still beautiful and where there‘s still something that’s sustaining。

And you narrow your timeframe and you be grateful for what you have and that can get you through some very dark times and maybe even successfully if you‘re lucky。

Even if unsuccessfully then maybe it’s only tragic and not absolute hell。

And you can do that， you know， in the worst situation， you can make it only tragic and not hell and there‘s a big gap between tragedy and hell。

There’s nothing worse at a deathbed than to see the people there fighting。

The death is bad enough， But you can take that terrible as it is and make it into something that‘s absolutely unbearable。

If we didn’t all attempt to make terrible things even worse than they are， then maybe we could tolerate the terrible things that we have to put up with in order to exist。

Maybe we could make the world into a better place and it‘s what we should be doing， and what we could be doing， because we don’t have anything better to do！