Suffering for the Common Good

Read a couple of passages about Flannery O'Connor's thoughts as a Catholic regarding suffering in Paul Elie's book An American Pilgrimage and they've stuck in my craw for days.  I'm not a Catholic, know next to nothing about Catholicism nor am I a philosopher.  Haven't read Kant or Kierkegaard or Hegel.  Nevertheless I think therefore I have opinions and O'Connor's thoughts on suffering, if they reflect Catholic thought, are so far removed from compassion as to verge on the cold bloodedness of a scientist studying the reactions of a lab rat.

She opines that the Believer is a realist.   Elie writes of her that, "the nonbeliever prides himself on his realism, his willingness to recognize suffering and to ponder the problem of evil directly.  In human deformity {suffering}, the Believer sees "the raw material of good."  The Believer sees the grounds of our common humanity, recognizing that it is through suffering that human beings are stirred to the love of one another and to the love of God, who showed his love for humanity through his willingness to suffer as  one of us." 

Suffering, if O'Connor is to be believed, is the finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself.  Never mind the deformity or the pain or the starvation, it is a metaphor so that the rest of us can have a think about it and what it means to our relationship with each other and to God.

Which kind of leaves out the poor suffering slob who is thrust into the role of martyr for the betterment and peace of mind of the Believers. 

O'Connor suffered herself.  She was diagnosed with lupus as a young woman and so led a life circumscribed by her infirmity (she took cortisone for the lupus which over time softened her bones).  Nevertheless, I prefer Dorothy O'Day's (also in Elie's book) approach to suffering.  She took the direct approach and tried to alleviate it.  It was not a philosophical conundrum to be solved over tea.  O'Day lived alongside the poor and disenfranchised, suffered alongside them.  She took the unbeliever's stance and pondered the problem of evil directly by doing something about it.


So, I've had my rant.  Easy to pontificate away from the ease and comfort of my good health and comfortable home. Nevertheless....