The problem with pain

In his great book, The Problem with Pain, CS Lewis tried to answer an important question about life and religeon. The basic premise was, if there is a God (capital G) and that God is a good God, and that God is omnipotent, then why is there suffering in the world. Either there is NO God, or that God doesn't care - therefore not a good God, or that God is not omnipotent.

I was walking home the other day, passed by some homeless people settling in for the night. It wasn't a cold day, but the setting was disturbing. Downtown Toronto, in front of the Royal Bank plaza, a symbol of wealth. As is normally the case, the homeless couple (yes a man and a woman) were settling down around a vent, for the underground. All the exhausted warm air from a part of subterrenean Toronto is pushed out through these vents and is usually warm. A police car drove by and stopped in front of them. One of the cops (yes there were two) got out of the car, adjusted his pants, took out his truncheon and walked towards the couple.

I was walking away but was curious enough to keep looking back. A conversation of some sort was taking place. Adversarial in nature since the cop was waving his truncheon in his left hand and occasionally smacking it in the palm of his left hand. After a short while, cop #2 got out of the car.

Obviously outnumbered, the couple got up slowly and began to pick up whatever they owned. A blanket, a few plastic bags and some stuff wrapped up in newsprint. Probably some food. They then proceeded to walk away from the spot they had so carefully settled down in, occasionally glancing back longingly.

I tore myself away from the scene but could not forget it so quickly. I often wonder why, in a country as great as ours, with social programs as good as ours, we still experience destitution. I doubt that it's by choice. Even when you hear the horror stories about what goes on in some of the shelters, living on the streets cannot be that much better of an option. Why would someone stoop so low and degrade themselves that way? Where is God?

What's also scary is, looking at many of the homeless on our own streets, is that they look very much like me. In fact, one time I passed a homeless person, earnestly working on what looked like a novel. They had a notepad in hand, filled with notes and they were furiously filling the page with a lot of words. A coffee cup on the ground next to them and a stash of things around them. A cut-out cardboard that read, "homeless, but trying to get an education."

It's not a matter of luck that some win and some lose. I don't know what forces there are in this world that lead to this. If there is a God, he's clearly not getting as involved as I think he should. As confusing as the lessons He's trying to teach. It's like leaving your three year-old up to their own devices, with a rule book filled with parables. It just doesn't make sense.

I wish there was something real that I could do other than just walk away.