Can Suffering Make Us Stronger?

Most of us experience a lot of grief in our life. Whether we are well-off or not has no meaning in the contex of this matter because there are many rich people feeling unbearable sorrow. As one can see, grief is part and parcel of life. It, therefore, should have a meaning concerning human life, shouldn’t it? This situation has naturally been a controversial issue among people. While some of them, including me, assert that affliction is vital for the perfect human being, some others are against this due to a variety of reasons.

To begin with, suffering enables people to gain inner strength. Nietzsche, a German philosopher, said, “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” This is exactly true because people can learn many things from their mistakes and thus become more vigilant as Buddha said, “Your greatest enemy is your greatest teacher.” Moreover, suffering refines our character. For example, we can have great patience if we endure suffering. There are numerous humans feeling distress across the globe. It goes without saying that most people in the world ignore them. Suffering makes us more sympathetic to the distress of others as it usually raises our awareness. Additionaly, since people think that nothing experienced in life is unnecessary, they usually develop more philosophical and spiritual attitudes to life thanks to affliction.

On the other hand, opponents of the above mentioned arguments state that suffering may make us vicious. There are a multitude of hard-hearted people who had experienced a lot of  suffering before they became cruel. Had they not experienced so much grief, they wouldn’t be brutal now. As there are numerous compassionate people who experienced suffering, opponnents aren’t the case. Thus, what is the difference betwen the good and the bad? Viktor E. Frankl, one of the most important psychiatrists in the 20th century, was incarcerated  in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Luckily he survived in the camp and therefore was released. He wrote a book about his experiences  there and named it “Men’s Search For Meaning” There is a real story in the book. Frankl wrote, “When we were released, we started to walk towards down-town, and then had to pass through a field. A friend of mine didn’t hesitate to trample on the vegetables. I asked him why he behaved this way, he said to me he  had experienced so much suffering that he wouldn’t be compassionate towards anything.” In that case, why didn’t Frankl trample on the vegetables? He explained this situation as follows: however effective environmental factors are concerning being cruel or compassionate, ultimately, which characteristic we will have depends on our decisions. In other words, we are capable of being good or bad. Suffering, therefore, is a catalyst making the good more compassionate and the bad more cruel.

All things considered, the obvious conclusion to be drawn is that only if we endure hardship and suffering will they make us stronger. Moreover, we can be more successful in life thanks to them. Yaşar Nuri ÖZTÜRK, the most important thelogist in the 20th century according to The Times Magazine, asserts in his book “Reconstruction” that suffering is the driving force behind creativity and mental development. Apart from these, I am of the firm opinion that if you never experience suffering, you aren’t truly living.                         CEM KOCA