When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Kushner knew, the moment he heard the diagnosis of progeria for his son, that he would write this book, “sharing with others the story of how we managed to go on believing in God and in the world after we had been hurt” (145).

Kushner believes that, since God doesn’t intercede in the laws of nature or the free-will acts of people, blaming Him for our misfortunes is senseless. If God isn’t involved in our misfortunes, he asks, is our suffering meaningless? Kushner suggests that the meaning comes from our attitude toward our misfortunes: “Now that this has happened to me, what am I going to do about it?” (149). Rather than searching for someone to blame and punish, people should look toward the future, toward recovery and renewed happiness.

Sometimes people die for a good cause, becoming “God’s martyrs.” Cruel or unfair suffering, such as in Hitler’s concentration camps or when a child succumbs to an incurable disease, involves the death of innocents; these become “the devil’s martyrs” (151), whose fates cause people to doubt God. It is we, though, who turn their deaths into indictments against faith and hope. Instead, we can find ways to honor their deaths and learn from their tragedies. What value, then, does God provide? God makes a world that is basically good and where disasters, though possible, are rare. A life well spent but marred by tragedy shouldn’t be judged solely by the tragedy. God inspires us to affirm life, to rebuild it where it’s broken, to help others, and to realize that, even in tragedy, we are not alone.

Kushner’s son, Aaron, showed great courage, living a full life despite his illness, a bravery that inspired his friends and schoolmates. Many people also reached out to Aaron, gifting him with musical and sports equipment suited to his size and physical limitations, obtaining for him an autographed baseball, and playing stickball with him, among other kindnesses. Aaron’s example helped others in Kushner’s congregation to deal more courageously with difficulties in their own lives.

Archibald MacLeish wrote a drama, J.B., that retells the story of Job. J.B. is a successful businessman with a loving family, but all his children die, his business and health fail, and his city is destroyed by war. Three people come to comfort J.B. The first is a Marxist who tells J.B. that he is simply a member of the wrong class at the wrong time; the second is a psychiatrist who explains that people are impulse machines who act on instinct and have no moral responsibility; the third is a clergyman who says that J.B. is punished because he is a human, and humans are sinners who deserve punishment. J.B. rejects each of these claims because they make life meaningless. Then God appears to J.B. and, as in the Biblical book of Job, overwhelms him with His goodness and majesty. J.B. returns to his wife, and they rebuild their life together. As they do so, they search not for justice but for love, the glowing “coal of the heart” (160), the one thing left in the world that can warm them and give light.