Life is Not Beautiful

"Isn't he a miracle?"

Well, no. I’m not okay with chalking up my son’s life to a religious talking point. I do not believe it is a miracle that he was born with a heart doomed for failure. That he suffered for months. It is not a miracle that an O+ child somewhere who would become Alan’s donor lost his/ her life way too early. It is not a miracle that while Alan successfully made it off ECMO support after his transplant while the other half of children in a similar situation do not. It is not a miracle that children die every day from diseases that are not their fault. It is not a miracle that millions die every year from malnutrition while we have plenty.

I don’t dismiss a divine worldview of existence. That is probably what I lean toward being true (although a chaotic and random universe sometimes seems to better match my observations.) I just do not understand how we can attribute only the good events to providence and not the bad. Every lucky break is not because enough people were praying. I don’t think every travesty that occurs is justified because it brings glory to the lord. I don’t think genocide is ever okay and I don’t think I can really say that I respect the god of the Old Testament.

I do not think that everything that happens has some kind of redeeming value. If we are going to acknowledge the miracles that we see, then it is only fair to recognize the non-miracles as well. They happen every day too.