WHY DO WE OFTEN DWELL ON THE BAD?

Bad things happen. That is a fact, a non-debatable fact, of this life. They happen to good people and they happen to bad people. When bad things happen to people whom we, in our humble opinion, consider bad, we get a nefarious delight that they are getting their comeuppance. When bad things happen to us, we wonder what we did to deserve what has happened.

Sometimes we can fully understand why the bad has happened: we placed ourselves in harm’s way; we did something we knew ahead of time was wrong and selfish and sinful; we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; someone else did something that hurt us and hurt us deeply and affected the rest of our lives.

Each one of us has a list of the bad that has happened to us over the years. Some of us have shorter or longer lists than others. There are parishioners over the years whom I believe have had more than their fair share of bad things happening to them, far more than they deserved. I know, on the other hand, how blessed I have been and do not understand why this has been so. I am thankful, of course.

Bad things happen in this life and no one is exempt from their happening. But the corollary is just as true: good things happen. Good things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people. No exemptions. The further truth is that more good things happen to us than bad, far, far more good things. The problem is that we seem to take the good that happens to us, take our blessings, for granted while we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time remembering and rehashing the bad?

Why? Why do we dwell on the bad much more than we dwell and give thanks for the good? It does not do us any good as the past is passed. We cannot undo the harm that was done to us, the sufferings we endured. All we can do is be thankful that we made it through those painful and difficult times. Those times changed the course of our life. But the good that happened to us also changed the course of our life. Everything that happens in our life, both good and bad, changes our life

So here we are, the product of the life that has passed, both the good and the bad, more of the good than the bad. We have no idea what could have been or might have been had not the bad happened nor have we any idea what could have been or might have been had not the good happened to us. What happened happened. No need to dwell on it.

What is left is to live our lives as fully as we can right here, right now. If we are happy with where we are now, we can even give thanks for the bad that happened because it has led us to the present. If the present is painful because of something bad that has happened to us, our faith tells us that resurrection and new life will come. When it does, we will be able to give thanks even for that because of our new life.