‘When Bad Things Happen To Good People’, by Harold Kushner The book tells the story of a good and decent man whose life is ruined by bad luck and hostility. He and his family suffer although they are innocent. Kushner addresses in the book one of the principal problems of theodicy, the conundrum of why, if the universe was created and is governed by a God who is of a good and loving nature, there is nonetheless so much suffering and pain in it—essentially, the evidential problem of evil. The book argues for theistic finitism.[1] Kushner proposes a finite God solution to the problem of evil. God is benevolent but not all-powerful to prevent evil.
I had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Kushner and spend some time driving from The Houston Airport to the Houston JCC, spending almost an hour one on one with the Rabbi. He was a good sport, willing to answer ALL of my questions, and providing me with much more insight, which in turn motivated me to ask even more questions, regarding right from wrong, good from bad, the universe, and my teeny tiny, minuscule place in that universe. To say the least this time spent with Rabbi Kushner, was one very important moment for me, and an experience I still cherish and often times ruminate about.
BUT now, in this current iteration of my life, I have begun to BEG a newer question regarding bad and its correlation to people. Ever since the arrival of the Orange Menace and his Red Baseball Capped, army of the dead, I have begun to wonder “WHY IS IT THAT IT SEEMS GOOD THINGS ARE HAPPENING TO BAD PEOPLE?” From the MAGA Insurrectionists to the FOX Fascists, to the Putin Loving Republicans, to the Christian Nationalists pretending to be Evangelicals, to GOP Supreme Court Justices living off of grifting and grafting, to the Billionaire Tax Dodging, Puppet Masters, it seems to me that somehow, someway, so far, GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO BAD PEOPLE!
The Constitution matters not to TRUMP and a long list of his minions. Laws and Order are treated as useless wastes of time. Justice, and equality, are only spoken of with great Hypocrisy, and a double standard of what is good for me does not apply to what is good for you, which is drowning our Democracy. So far at least from where I sit, it seems that GOOD THINGS CONTINUE TO HAPPEN TO BADE PEOPLE, and I want to know why, and how the fuck to stop it!
