Darkness, Questions, Poetry, and Spiritual Hope

"Religious optimism--denying, ignoring or sidelining darkness--offers us no hope because it isn't even aware of the question." In other words, religious optimism does the suffferer no good because it offers no real hope in the midst of their brokeness. Though individuals who easily declare religious cliches to hurting people mean well, they often don't understand the deep, unbearable suffering the hearers are going through. They don't realize that while what they're saying is true the hearers will walk through their personal deserts before they're able to accept to these truths for themselves. In fact, these people must allow themselves to suffer in order to ultimately deal with their moments of darkness. Sometimes, hurting people will suppress their pain or attempt to move on too quickly, believing that is the best thing for them. But it isn't. The hurting person must, instead, give themselves permission to feel the pain of their situation even as they allow God to walk them step by step through the darkness. This concept of facing the darkness of this world instead of fleeing from it reminds me of what C.S. Lewis did in his book, A Grief Observed. After his wife died, he faced the darkness of his doubts about God and his faith head-on. Cornel West says that, "Despair and hope are inseparable. One can never underand what hope is really about unless one wrestles with despair."
On January 12, 2010, the nation of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake. Many of us have seen the heartbreaking news images: Injured people in tent cities, dead bodies in the streets, crying children. During a memorial service for Haiti that my university presented, the students watched a video of a young Haitian who told his story of what he experienced that day. He talked about being in one of his classes on the day the earthquake hit. He fell through the floor of the building and another man landed on top of him. This person died just moments later when he was crushed by concrete. The young man who was telling the story was trapped under this person's body and tons of concrete for eleven hours before he was rescued. Yet, after he was brought out, instead of trying to forget this harrowing experience, he used it to reach out to his fellow countrymen.