Читать книгу Hope’s Daughters - R. Wayne Willis - Страница 80

How does suffering shape us? There are two leading theories.

One is represented by Somerset Maugham, British author, writing about what he witnessed as a medical student: “Suffering did not ennoble; it degraded. It made men selfish, mean, petty and suspicious. It absorbed them in small things. It made them less than men.”

The other point of view can be summed up in three succinct sentences from three experts on suffering:

Friedrich Nietzsche: “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”

Ernest Hemingway: “The world breaks everyone, and afterwards many are strong at the broken places.”

Helen Keller: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”

Think of Patrick Henry Hughes, born with multiple anomalies—scoliosis, no eyes, inability to walk, and arms that cannot be straightened. Patrick began playing piano at nine months. He played trumpet in the University of Louisville marching band and became a virtuoso pianist and vocalist. He was a “straight A” student in his college classes.

How do we understand a Patrick Henry Hughes and his response to suffering? First, Patrick chose his family well! His mother, father, and two brothers have an earned “A” in family. They bathed Patrick in affirmation, support, and encouragement all the way. What if Patrick Henry Hughes had been born into another family, a family that for whatever reason did not believe in him or did not know how to help him? We do not want to go there.

And then there is Patrick’s indomitable spirit. Smiling, he insists that he is “just an ordinary guy living my life.” He prefers to think and talk about “abilities” instead of “disabilities.”61 No family, however wonderful, can dictate spirit. The child alone holds those controls.

Suffering is no match for the dynamic duo of “A plus” community and “A plus” attitude.