Member-only story
Life is Pain
And No One Escapes It
My friend was struggling. She fought her envy against another friend, a woman who seemed to have it all. Tall, blond, beautiful. Married to her college sweetheart. Lived in a beautiful house with a four car garage and a guest cottage. Meanwhile, my friend struggled to pay the mortgage on her starter home, fought constantly with her husband and battled weight issues.
“Life isn’t fair, Shefali!” she lamented.
“I hear you,” I said.
Two months later she called me back. Her rich, beautiful friend’s child was in the hospital. The prognosis wasn’t good. The frantic mother never left her daughter’s side. My friend had just got back from visiting her.
“Pray for her,” she said. “Please pray for her. I have never seen anyone in so much pain. My heart aches for her.”
The child died despite the doctors’ efforts and our fervent prayers.
Life is pain. No one escapes.
You might think someone is beyond pain because of the way they look, the accomplishments they boast, the money they have or the loved ones that surround them. You are wrong. We all experience pain.
This is the thing that binds us all, as much as the blood that flows through our veins and the air we breathe. Joy is ephemeral, laughter fades, but pain can dig deep and the wounds it creates molds us more deeply than anything else. This is life.
