The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1912-04-05
SATURDAY NIGHT
NSERhONs
.WA@ BY
q REKSArfuEL
9 WpURVISDl
THE MYSTERY or PAIN.

though he were visitor from another
planet. why does your God allow
pain?" says he. That sounds judicial
Makes you blink. IF He is almighty
why doesn't He abolish itY Notice
his IF l were God air. '.If He were
all loving would He permit it?'' That's
a squelcher! You wriggle and squirm
mentally. You cough and strangic
like dog that's swallowed a fly. Be-
fore you can stammer forth something
about the ways of Providence being
inscrutable he Is gone and you feel
as though you had been caught burn
ing incense to your house cat. Then
you remember that you would have
liked to ask his theory Of why the
blind impersonal force he believes in
permits pain. His nonGod is as cruel
as your personal God and doesn't
profess loving intelligence. But he's
gone and you're alone with your pain.
Come soon or late pain will get you
1t ushered you into the world; it may
bow you out. However. the amount
between birth and death is curiously
exaggerated. Three rainy Sundays out
of thirteen will tempt the preacher
(also his excuse making church mem
her to declare that lit always rains
on Sundayv Some of our pain we
have earned honestly and ought to be
ashamed to mention it. Human wars.
with not only shot and shell. but ex
posture and camp diseases. have hand
ed down quite a few to our human
credit or discredit. Modern psyche
therapeutics prove that envy, jealousy.
hatred and some other unenviable
traits are responsible for quite a
brood. It's not very polite to blame
God for these
Pain as Warning.
Pain is a signboard. Your physician
tells you, scientifically pain results
from or accompanies deranged. over
strained or otherwise abnormal action
of the body and serves as a warning
of danger" True. Nature warns there's
something wrong. Don't hush the pain
remove the cause! flushing the pain
is removing the red lantern. the dan
ger signal, from. wreck on the road
instead Of removing the obstruction.
Without pain practically every Ill
would be fatal, because the cause of
the pain would not be removed.
Ever see mother watching her year
old fodder? The button box. the stove.
the scissors. the steps. even ''kitty's
claws" are unknown quantities and
qualities to baby-it doesn't know pain
hence mothers watchfulness. After
awhile 1.-The burned child breads the
fire' and some other things. Without
pain the race would be wiped out of
existence Some babies Of older years
would walk heedlessiy in front of troll
leys-fenders are needed even now;
others would wander over precipices:
some would cut hands and fingers off.
Pain is protection.
Philosophy of Pain.
Your infidel friends questions start
ed from wrong assumptions. He has
many such. One is that what hurts is
necessarily evil. Another is that pres
ent immediate happiness Is the chief
| end of life And his notion that God
| Of love would not allow suffering
shows he has a crude idea Of the ma
| ture of love. He would train his son to
| believe that boy scouts are best de-
| veloped on ice cream sodas and cake,
while his daughters basketball team
| best builds muscle on pickles and
| fudge Love is an unselfish devotion
| that seeks another'S highest good.
whether for the moment it gives pleas
ure or pain. Life is not an entertain
ment; it's an education
This world is Gods university. Death
is commencement day; pain has been
prominent on the faculty. The oak is
tree plus some storms. A statue is
marble plus the chisel. A soldier is a
man plus battle. The martyr is flesh
and blood plus rack and fagot. In
aviation the first rule of fight is to
turn the machine against the wind.
Mankind rises through adverse winds
Of suffering. The higher your nerve
organization the more you suffer. Tear
an arm out Of crab. it will stiN live
indeed. may grow new one. Tear
| al dIlu 1IOm udu, uC Will OlC
Mans body is marvellous harp. But
do not subhuman creatures suffer-
Yes. but only relatively. Cut some of
the simplest forms Of life in half and
they go on their way-two existences
now instead of one. Doesn't the fish
worm wriggle under the hook?" Yes.
but it wriggles before the hook touches
it. "And the horseY Yes, the more
highly organized he is the more he
suffers. But even he has been known
to hobble around on broken leg. nib
bling grass in apparent contentment
And the inferior races % have seen
on one of the reservations half dozen
/ Indian boys with a playmate down
jabbing pins in him to make him yell
Ansuccessfully.
.'Our light Affections" says. Paul
Somehow the pounding is turning out
bronze doors with beautiful designs.
yhe shearing and the weaving and the
dyeing are bringing out beautiful
| tapestry Take away suffering? That