This I Believe
I am a Caucasian white male who knows absolutely nothing of real suffering. I have heard people in the halls at school talk about how their parents wont let them do something minor like go to a concert or buy a new car, and then complain that they are suffering the death of popularity. I think that real suffering is happening in third-world countries like Africa or in southern Europe.
My belief is that everything will work out. Usually this can happen in a few different ways. Either a person can get what a person wants directly or a person has to go at it indirectly. For example, on Friday the 14th of September I was supposed to fly out of the south bend airport. However for various stupid reasons it was delayed time and time again. So, after a lot of delays up to the point at which my dad and I would miss our connecting flight in Chicago, we decided to fly out with my mom the next day. So it worked out that our whole family could fly out together even though the idea of flying out early and getting another day to do homework was destroyed.
Unfortunately this belief doesn’t always work. For example, in a place like Africa things may not always work. Many are dying because of diseases or of thirst. Also, it is not easy to be immune to everything in Africa. AIDS is an example of diseases that are very close to incurable in Africa. Many mothers, fathers and children are dying leaving many families in sorrow or having to fend for themselves.
I also listen to many songs that talk about experiencing hell or dying in various ways. That’s right I listen to all forms of metal or hard rock. This is what many Africans have to deal with every day. So all who in this country, America, who talk about pain and suffering should learn that we as Americans get of pretty easily on the suffering scale. On a scale of 1 to 10 in suffering America gets about a 2 or a 3. Africa gets about a 15-20.
So my belief that everything will work out only really applies to America in general. It sometimes applies in short term in third-world countries, but always fails in the long term. Most of the time though, I’m sad to say, it fails outright. I hope that some day the entire world will come together, rich and poor, and share all of its resources. But until that happens, we, as Americans, will complain of false suffering and pain, while other countries get all of the pain.