Can you see how entirely unsatisfying this is? And logically inane? It begs the question – what the hell’s the point? If God created Man – was it simply to lay out this elaborate theater in which nothing we do matters? Additionally, if that’s the case, why the story in Genesis about God’s wrath? Why is he pissed about Adam and Eve? HE did it!
The only logical conclusion is that what we do on this Earth does matter. Particularly if you’re an Atheist! If you don’t believe in any afterlife, then you’re responsible for everything you do while you’re here. It’s not on anyone else’s tab. But what about the random stuff? Let’s leave aside the things that have a clear line of responsibility – you shoot someone, we know who that’s on. A company dumps waste in the groundwater and people get cancer, we can figure out who deserves the blame.
What about the kid who slips on a banana peel and dies at the age of 12? The infant who dies of SIDS? The mother who dies of a brain aneurysm? Who does that fall to? Because this answer ties directly to the plight of that father who wonders about his son’s early demise, or my daughter’s friend, or the many young men and women I’ve known who died tragically…
I think the answer is unknowable and is probably a combination of both God’s will and just the vagaries of life. Shit just happens. Sometimes, it really does seem like there’s a bit of karma, poetic justice, kismet, destiny and you could swear that there is a higher power pulling the strings, but most of the time? Nope, it really does seem that we’re here on our own and responsible for what we do. I’m entirely comfortable with the idea that God might pop in once in a while to check on things and make a course correction but that for the most part, things just happen and we’re responsible for our part in it – but a friend dying is not some payback for lying to our 3rd Grade teacher (no deity who exceeds our knowledge could be that sadistic, despite what the nuns in Catholic school say or how much guilt they dole out).
Arriving at this kind of metaphysics doesn’t seem very deep, or mysterious enough. It’s like arriving at some much-hyped destination only to look around and go, “This is it?” It’s pretty underwhelming. But I tend to think of there being something profound in the mundane. It’s not productive to look up to God and ask “why did this happen” during these tragedies, because there is literally no answer forthcoming, but there may be something profound in thinking about the future, after the tragedy has been endured… what then? A very close friend of mine lost a young child. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and reading, and somewhere I stumbled upon the thought that perhaps we can take forward – later, after we’ve recovered and survived – some wisdom that we can use to help someone else we know or meet who might go through something similar, or worse, in the future. That perhaps our tragedy, if not understandable or explainable in any way to us, after we’ve coped with it and found a way to go on, may be a piece of wisdom that we can pass on to someone else down the road. I’m not saying that God killed my daughter’s friend so that she can learn from it for someone else. I’m suggesting that entirely independent of His involvement (or karma’s, or fate’s) that we can find utility in our coping and still finding some joy in life after these tragedies.
That thought brings me a lot of comfort, even if it turns out I’m wrong. Or maybe it’s just another way of coping with the tragedies… or maybe both. Either way, I think it’s a decent starting point to try to explain to a teenager turning into a young adult heading out into this world. And it’s a lot better than self-pity, or blaming god, or having no solid metaphysics upon which to rely in this rough and tumble world.