on providence & good will, amongst other things

So Larissa asks the question,

"Is it logically possible for God to create a world in which there is no evil or suffering, but where humans still have free will?"

To answer this question on a bit of a tangent, I think it's us, the humans themselves, who create the evil and suffering. This of course, assumes that we are created as free agents, and not somebody else's puppets.


Alexander wrote:
"There is the cliched argument that "What is light but absence of darkness?""

It's such a simple yet profound statement.

Reading on further through the discussion posts, I see the topic/question of "Why do bad things happen to good people?", and my fellow students' confusion and failure to understand just why it is that the nicest people seem to be the ones who suffer from terminal illnesses and the like.

I've thought about this before, primarily because of events that had affected me in some way. My kindergarten teacher, her name was Mrs Batty. However she was far from crazy, and did a wonderful job as the teacher of our class, Kindergarten Rainbow. I remember her peaceful smile, and she was all warmth and love. I don't recall seeing her after kindergarten; it's possible that she moved schools, who knows. I was too young at the time to pay attention to such things. By the time I was in Year 5 or 6, I discovered from my teachers that Mrs Batty had passed away due to cancer. It was a shock, and I felt sad.

And when I was in Year 4 or 5 (the years are a blur now), the mothers of one of my best friends passed away on the operating table, while having a brain tumor removed. That was also a shock, and saddening news. She was such a lovely person, really nice and kind, and she left behind 3 wonderful daughters and a loving husband. I felt terrible.

Taking my case to the realm of celebrities et al, Eva Cassidy & Princess Diana are the first who come to mind.

Eva Cassidy was an American singer blessed with an amazing voice. According to friends and family she was very shy, but very generous, and overall had a wonderful heart and soul. However she died at the young age of 33, battling cancer. Why did such a lovely and talented person have to leave so soon?
If you listen to some of her songs, even the ones that weren't ready for album release, you'll soon realise how incredible her vocal talent is. One can only imagine what potential was not realised due to her early passing.

Jeff Buckley is of a similar situation, although he disappeared in the Mississippi River one evening. His albums Grace and Live at the Sin-e are precious recordings of a genius at work. According to his mother, he was a good person too, kind and gentle.

"The good die young."

It's a cliche, but it's cliched because it's true.

And just about everybody would know about Princess Diana. I remember her most for her enormous contribution to humanitarian activities. Of course, there are many, many people around the world doing exactly the same thing, if not better, but my respect for her is from the perspective that she was royalty. She was very well-off; why would she have any reason to go out of her way to do something for people she doesn't know? But Princess Diana used her celebrity status to bring awareness into people's living rooms during the news. And I'm sure we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg on screen.

I respect celebrities who use their celebrity status to do good for the world - but only those who are genuine about their cause. Angelina Jolie was known for working in humanitarian activities long before the news articles on Bono, or Bob Geldof, or Madonna, etc. The most prominent (i.e. receive the most amount of TV coverage for what they do, based on my experience) celebrities who I think are genuinely dedicated to the cause, are Angelina Jolie and Bono.

The fact that being humanitarian has become "trendy" nowadays, is both a blessing and a curse in my opinion. It's great because that means more people are getting involved, donating money, aiding good causes. The bad thing is, what are their ulterior motives? Are they doing it because they think it's 'cool', or because they genuinely feel that everybody should have equal rights in the world, and poverty is unacceptable considering the affluence of many urbanised areas around the world?