I consider myself agnostic (although my wife and kids are all semi-practicing Catholics), I really don't even think about religion or feel the need for it to tell me what is right and wrong. That said, I don't discount it either. It's a non-factor to me. However given this past week-and-a-half's occurences I'm pressed to think that if there is a God, why does he let stuff like this happen?

Last week, one of my wife's h.s. friends lost their 7yo daughter after a 2 yr. battle with Neuroblastoma. I never met these people in person, but thanks to the internet I was in contact and I got emotionally invested over the past couple years reading updates, watching my wife go through the ups and downs as the prognosis and treatments varied. Last month her parents, thanks to a lot of fundraising on their behalf, were able to take Sydney to Disney. She loved it even though she slept a lot of the time just because she was so worn out from the battle. She was relieved of her misery Thanksgiving morning. My wife attended the wake and the funeral.

This came after we got word that the 2.5yo son of some internet forum friends lost his battle with Leukemia, which he was diagnosed with at 19 months. The kid endured so many setbacks during treatment and nothing helped. The parents made the difficult decision to stop the treatments that were wreaking havoc on his poor little body on the 1st of November and just keep him comfortable and not suffer any more. While he was considered too young by Make A Wish, through lots of phone calls and emails they were able to make some concessions and got him down to Disney. Once again, I had never met these people in person but through mutual acquaintances we still got to be "friends". While there may be a face-to-face disconnect, emotionally there isn't.

This morning I got word that one of my son's 10yo friends, whom I also coached in Little League, has a rare form of Leukemia and that the prognosis isn't very good. I coached him over the summer, he played fall baseball with my son (Aug-Sept) and in mid-Oct he started feeling lousy. By late Oct he was diagnosed. Last week there was additional testing done to determine his subtype of High Risk ALL. Unfortunately he has one of the rarest subtypes called Extreme Hypodiplody. This type of Leukemia has a much different prognosis than additionally thought. With the normal course of treatment it is known that there is a very high incidence of recurrence (70-80%). His only chance for a full-recovery now is a bone marrow transplant and to this point no matches have been found (including my wife and I).


Sorry to be a downer, there is nothing worse than sick and suffering kids. I'm just so angered, frustrated, saddened and bummed out right now. If there is a God why does this happen? What good comes from children suffering? I shouldn't even make it a religious/philosophical discussion either. That's just part of my out-loud venting.

Hug your kids, shower them with love. You never know, within 6 months they might be gone.

WTF!

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Sorry to hear about the kids. You're right, the deaths of children are terrible. I have vivid memories of teaching a class about 15 years ago where we were discussing the problem of evil and suffering. A young woman about 25yrs old who had been quiet most of the semester spoke up and insisted that until you lose a young child, like she recently had, you'd have no idea what suffering was like. She insisted it was impossible to believe in a good god, after such an event.
I posted here about six weeks ago that my wife's favorite student took his own life. It still bothers me.

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

In addition to Make a Wish, there is also "Give Kids the World" , which does similar work with children.

http://www.gktw.org/?gclid=COKYv5_o_48CFSG8GgodOU9jtg

I think the only answers to such things are personal. Having been through seminary and having done grief counseling, etc. for awhile in my earlier years, I never found any kind of answer for such things that one person could find for another. The best I could ever do was to help facilitate that process for the person who was grieving.

I have a lot of problems with evil and suffering in the world. Sometimes I even feel a bit of "survivior guilt" because of my own good fortune in life. I don't really have any answers for anyone else, though.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Thanks, guys. It's been tough because I feel the chivalristic (?) need to stay strong for my wife who has had an especially hard time with all of these developments on top of the holiday season memories since we lost my MIL in December going on 5 years ago now. Just getting it out does relieve some of that.

It's just been a crap string of news lately and I'm usually the type to keep everything to myself for no good reason. Individually, they would be tough enough to deal with. But I think it's been the snowball effect of it all.

I've felt choked up all morning long. Thankfully my soon-to-be 5yo is home from school today because of a "Professional Development Day" (which I'm usually aggrivated about) at school. I really need a kid fix at lunch with he and my 18 mo.

Of course it's a slow day at work so there isn't much to keep me distracted.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Being agnostic, you probably aren’t too concerned with the theology behind your question. It’s a common one and there’s certainly a lot of material out there on the topic if you care to read it.

I had some bad stuff happen 10 years ago and my take is this. God never guaranteed life would be good. In fact He said it may be pretty bad. It is guaranteed that what comes after life will be good and will last a long time. It became just a matter of perspective. After a couple trillion years of the good, whether your 2 or 25 or 70 years of life here were bad won’t seem too important. Hope is pretty powerful stuff.

__________________
1982 300TD 279K.
1984 190D 5sp 265K

If God is the architect, then all things good and bad are part of the design. I don't know how else to justify such unfairness, except that maybe it's something we simply don't understand yet.

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Matt300SD will be along shortly to enlighten us, I'm sure . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Swamp- I am sorry for your losses and I surely don't have an answer that makes any of this easy especially when it comes to children. I volunteered as an "artist in residence" at a hospital and it was very difficult working with children who have AIDS. I always hated getting the phone call telling me they were gone but knowing in my heart i brought them some joy when we did create art projects is alittle comforting.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

X2............

And lets not forget our advisory...Who seeks to steal, kill and destroy us...Satan........There is a huge unseen battle going on.........Heavy stuff.....

__________________
Matt (SD,CA)

1984 300SD.. White/Chrome Bunts..Green

1997 2500 Dodge Ram 5.9 Cummins 12 Valve 36 PSI of Boost = 400+hp & 800+tQ .. ..Greenspeed

2004 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Quad Cab Cummins 5.9 H.O "596hp/1225tq" 6 spd. Man. Leather Heated seats/Loaded..Flame Red....GREENSPEED

Global warming...Doing my part, Smokin da hippies..

Fight the good fight!......

Not necessarily, csp. Unlike an atheist, I don't summarily discount the existence. I'm just not convinced one way or the other because I just don't give it much thought. Until bad things happen, I guess.

It's just that I have a tough time grasping why children, or even good people, have to endure pain and suffering.

Hope is powerful. Keeping that hope is the key.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Thanks, Mistress.

In two of the 3 cases I only had internet contact. It's kind of strange how an "impersonal" means of communication can result in such an emotional connection. The fact that kids are involved is probably why.

__________________

1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

ah, my checkered past . . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Neuroblastoma is pretty rare. Did she have it in one eye or both? Sorry to hear.

__________________
Current Stable:
1994 S500 v140, 210k miles, white with grey.

Former Mercedes in the Stable:
1983 300CD Turbo diesel 515k mi sold (rumor has it, that it has 750k miles on it now)
1984 300CD Turbo Diesel 150 k mi sold
1982 300D Turbo Diesel 225 sold
1987 300D Turbo Diesel 255k mi sold
1988 300 CE AMG Hammer 15k mi sold
1986 "300E" Amg Hammer 88k mi sold (it was really a 200, not even an E (124.020)
1992 500E 156k mi sold
etc.

Ok, I guess it's clear now. Matt isn't a monotheist after all, he's a Manichaean dualist.

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__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13