---“Is there an answer to the question why bad things happen to good
people?...The response would be…to forgive the world for not being perfect, to
forgive God for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around
us, and to go on living despite it all…no longer asking why something happened,
but asking how we will respond, what we intend to do now that it has happened”
–Harold S. Kusher ---
I have been of the
page for about a minute now, I am not even sure whether I can still spill words
out with the same intensity and knack as I used to, but alas, writing is truly
the only way I know how to heal emotionally so here goes.
I am generally a
good person. I know this not because I gave a coin to a street kid on a random
when they asked for it, not because I go to church almost every Sunday and pray
every single morning and evening, not because I once tipped a waiter even when
my cash flow was a little stagnant, not because I spared my lunch for the mentally
handicapped man roaming Kingsway, not because I feed the poor or give away old
clothes and toys to charities but because I have a good heart, because I
genuinely wish the best for everyone I come across and because I’d rather be
the one hurting than to encounter my family and friends go through any kind of
pain. If you ask me, that is the end-all
of being a good person, a good and pure heart.
I do not need a
second opinion on this, I know it to be a fact, pound for pound, I am a good
person fam, but bad things have been happening to me of late, The kind of bad
things that had me losing all faith, believing that there possibly cannot be a
God out there because if there was He personally would have made sure that I
never experience such pain for as long as I live. This is how confident I am
about my being a good person. But being a good person does not guarantee that
only good things will happen to you, although we may wish that this was the
case, unfortunately we are all prone to a little sting every now and again. As
I said, I have had a re-occurring series of bad events for the past few months,
however that was not the worst of it, the nadir is when the people around you,
your friends and family, the very people who during the good times promised
they would stick around even during the bad decide to bid you adieu.
No amount
of strength and honest living will prepare you for that gut wrenching moment of
betrayal from your loved ones, no matter how much of a saint or how quick to
forgive you are. Having people turn their backs on you during your driest
spell, whether it is financially, professionally, emotionally or even mentally will
have you cursing your very own existence. And just to rub salt to a wound, it is
more unfortunate when those very people claim that they still have your back
meanwhile you feel them slipping out of your life, slowly but surely.
But I figure that when
worldly people decide to leave your side at a time when you need their presence
the most then it might just be time to head back to God because no matter how
many times you trip and question His or Her existence, God will always be
there, waiting on you to return to His arms- no judgments, no reprimands, just
Her waiting to remind you that yes, bad things do happen to good people and
that it is nothing personal. She will gently remind you of Jesus- how He healed
the sick, comforted those in grief, prayed for our sins but still, He was
chastised in the worst way. Look at Princess Diana, hers was a soul so pure,
truly good- at least as far as the world could tell- but that did not stop
Charles from leaving her for a woman that looks like a horse (this is not my
personal opinion of Camilla, I came across this on the internets somewhere).
I guess what I am
trying to say is that no one is exempt from bad times despite their nature. It
does not matter how holier than the rest of us you consider yourself to be being
good is no assurance that good luck will befall you, we just must take it all in
strides and be grateful for the lessons that such situations come bearing.
At the end of it
all, nothing beats smiling through the tears, being at perfect peace and
knowing that everything is happening just as it should because whatever it is
we go through, it was always Gods plan for us- because God never left- She was
always right by our sides even during that prodigal phase we all go through.
She was right there, waiting on you to return to your senses and when you
finally do, you smile a little more, a bit harder because you know everything
will be okay in the end.
“This is why we have to make room in our lives for people who may
sometimes disappoint or exasperate us. If we hold our friends to a standard of
perfection, or if they do that to us, we will end up far lonelier than we want
to be”
Until next post,
Afrika Rising, Peace & Revolution...
