Once I was driving through my neighborhood when I saw a couple of girls from my ward with a lemonade stand. I stopped and bought a cup of warm, watery lemonade for $1. I noticed a sign written in a grade-schooler’s Very Best Handwriting that said all proceeds from the lemonade stand would be donated to charity. Happy to have something to ask them besides “how’s school,” I asked which charity they were donating to.
They exchanged blank and panicked looks, and then one girl ecstatically came up with the right answer. “Fast offerings!”
I managed not to laugh.
As you know, fast offerings are produced from Church members skipping two meals and giving the money they would have otherwise spent on the meals to the Church. The bishop then gives this money to the poor and needy. We are encouraged to give more than the value of two meals.
I regularly fasted for more than a decade as an adult, and then donated something to fast offerings. Sometimes it was as little as $5. When I could give more, then I would, but I don’t think I ever donated more than $20 to fast offerings. I quit fasting when I had little children. I needed the energy to deal with toddlers more than I needed the spiritual blessings. And let me tell you, I kind of resented them for that. I used to feel all sorts of peace and closeness to God while fasting. Sometimes anyway. Sometimes I was just hangry and then got a terrible migraine and spent most of the day in bed. Despite the frequent migraines, I kept fasting because I wanted the blessings. Church promised me blessings!
I never did go back to fasting after my kids grew up enough that I could risk a migraine again. I also quit paying fast offerings when I quit paying tithing. Instead, I’ve got a monthly auto-donation set up to the Utah Food Bank for much more than I ever gave as fast offerings. There is a community pantry close by. The sign on it says, “Leave what you can. Take what you need.” Most weeks I buy a little extra at the grocery store and leave food in the community pantry. And I don’t leave icky stuff like canned green beans (bleh) – I donate peanut butter, tuna fish, ravioli, box mixes. The good stuff.
The point is that I’m doing more to feed the hungry in my post-fasting life than I ever did while I was going to Church and paying fast offerings. I haven’t voluntarily skipped a meal in years.
Does God bless you for fasting because you’re suffering? Or does God bless you for helping the poor? Or is it both? I used to get blessed both for making myself suffer (migraines are no joke) AND helping the poor. Now I only get blessed for helping the poor.
This Church idea that suffering produces blessings is also part of the Church’s justification for giving people callings they don’t want, asking people to clean the Church for free, and basically finding ways to help us build character by being miserable and annoyed. Everyone has to learn to do things they don’t want to do, of course. Every job has some boring stuff that just has to get done. Living a life means learning to do laundry and clean the sink. These things are necessary.
But do you get bonus blessings for unnecessary suffering? I have enough food. Why would I be blessed for voluntarily going hungry and causing myself a half-day migraine? There are things I enjoyed doing at Church. Why would I be blessed for agreeing to take a calling that I knew I wouldn’t like?
Does God want us to cause ourselves annoyance and pain? These tasks aren’t big things like crossing the plains to escape religious persecution. That was necessary. I went on pioneer trek as a teenager and suffered for four days like the pioneers. I do not need to do that again. Would I be blessed by God for voluntarily suffering again though?
This post is about voluntary suffering. I’m not talking about being faithful through challenges we don’t choose, like health problems or suffering from someone else’s sins. We seek to find meaning, purpose and growth in unavoidable suffering to help us endure it. But is there meaning and purpose in unnecessary suffering?
Questions:
- Why does God want us to cause ourselves unnecessary suffering? Or does he actually want this? Isn’t there enough necessary and unavoidable suffering in the world that we can turn down the opportunity to suffer voluntarily?
- Why do Church leaders want us to cause ourselves unnecessary suffering?
- Do you really love something more if you sacrifice for it?
- Have you had experiences in which you voluntarily suffered and gained more than you annoyed yourself?
Wheat & Tares 
When I was a missionary in the MTC in early 1985 there was an Elder in our district who was distressed over the fact that he did not have any hardships in life nor had he ever had any. He was an athletic good looking young man from a relatively well-off healthy family and he didn’t know what it was like to endure any significant hardship. Meanwhile, he’s hearing lessons in the MTC about the importance of suffering and sacrifice. So he told us that he was going to pray for a trial so that he might benefit from that perspective.
I know it sounds crazy to 99% of us but that’s what he did. And lo and behold he broke his leg shortly before his training time was completed in the MTC and had to return home to heal and his mission was delayed several weeks/months. I lost track of him but I guess he was one who believed that suffering = blessings. Wonder if he changed his mind.
In my experience suffering can inspire spiritual maturity, rather than a simplistic prosperity gospel view of life (keep the commandments and be blessed and if you’re not blessed it’s because you didn’t keep the commandments).
This isn’t reality as everyone knows who has tried hard to follow every commandment and suffered anyway. Suffering is in the end, simply the terms of living on earth. The understanding of this can increase our empathy and charity towards other people in their suffering. In my opinion this is the only real way to become a mature disciple of Christ.
I personally haven’t felt closer to God through fasting. I feel closest to God outside when I look at the sky and vegetation.
To be blessed for voluntarily suffering, in my opinion it has to be necessary in order to help another person rather than a way to become righteous, which is only about yourself
Voluntary suffering in modest ways, such as occasional fasting, can yield positives. For one, it can remind a person that they can endure hard things. The trial can also produce empathy. A pampered life can make persons feel entitled and cause them to be unprepared for hard times. Self restraint and self discipline are desirable virtues. The practice of these virtues may entail voluntary suffering. At the same time, the pursuit of affliction for the sake of suffering is not healthy. Thus the counsel that all things should be done in wisdom.
Institutionalizing the practice of voluntary suffering is dangerous as this creates the opportunity for exploitation. Once suffering is deemed divine, leadership can always claim misfortune is good and avoid accountability for its actions that allowed the suffering.
The Martin / Willie handcart company story is illustrative. Church leadership failed. At the same time, the suffering experienced by these pioneers was sanctifying to those who endured it. But this positive result does not absolve the leadership who failed to properly plan the journey.
I went to bed too late last night; today I am suffering as a result. The decision to stay up last night was voluntary, ergo I am voluntarily suffering today. A great number of the challenges in my life can be traced back to my own decisions, so a large percentage of my suffering is voluntary. I just got back from being a ‘Pa’ on trek, which is a multi-day event centered around communal voluntary suffering. A lot of good can come from suffering; we may directly choose to undertake challenges that we know will cause suffering, or we may indirectly choose to suffer, but either way it is one way to learn some important lessons in life. And I do believe that God wants us to learn. But just because God approves of the outcome doesn’t mean that He necessarily requires the method. If I could develop some empathy for some random teenagers *without* dragging a handcart around for three days, I think He would be just as happy. Similarly, I am careful to distinguish between learning and growing and being blessed.
If I can manage to learn and grow and improve without dragging myself through the (sometimes metaphorical) mud, I believe that God will be pleased. And if I manage to learn and grow and improve by intentionally throwing myself in the mud pit, I believe that God will be pleased. I suspect that He would prefer I figure out the former method, even if I generally opt for the latter.
I think even needless suffering can be turned to good, but it does have to originate with the sufferer. Telling someone else “It’s for your own good!” or equivalent won’t fly.
I do believe fasting is a good thing, in general. Anything that can help give our minds better control over our bodies is good. Fasting is a good exercise, even divorced of the religious content.
I still fast semi-regularly, but I no longer fast from water. That’s just stupid. It makes me miserable and cranky. I have headaches. I will openly drink from the fountains at church on fast Sunday.
The Church now markets the Gospel as “the Plan of Happiness” or even “the Great Plan of Happiness.” The scripture that man is that he might have joy is quoted regularly. Yet … there is an opposing strain of thinking and practice in the Church that sees pain and suffering, hardships of all kinds, as somehow positive. Think “opposition in all things.” This gets applied to any hardship or challenge one meets in life, but in particular it gets applied to any hardship at all that the Church causes by way of financial contributions or burdensome callings. But we never hear about “the Great Plan of Hardship.” The purpose of the Gospel and the Church should be to alleviate suffering, not cause it nor embrace or celebrate it.
Mormons think that the Church rejects the Christian doctrine of mortification of the flesh. That’s true in the more extreme manifestations, but not true for low and medium size challenges and hardships. We say we reject the doctrine but in practice it is embraced. In hot weather, the discomfort of wearing LDS garments isn’t much different from the uncomfortable hair shirt Thomas More and others wore under their clothes centuries ago. Just another example of LDS doctrinal ignorance. As President Packer taught, bad doctrine leads to bad practice. (“True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.”)
Historically, some Christians–like members of Opus Dei and others–have practiced self-flagellation/mortification of the flesh (sometimes to horrifying excess) in an effort to impose self-discipline, demonstrate their sinful nature and show penance, and/or to experience a portion of the suffering that Christ did at Gethsemane.
Voluntary suffering or sacrifice strikes me as at least somewhat similar in terms of motivation/goals to those more extreme practices. It is a visible way to show one’s commitment to the gospel or to the Church. Is it necessary? That is for each person to decide for themselves. Fasting in and of itself has health benefits, but in an LDS context going without food is more about taking the money nominally spent on those meals and giving it to those in need. Will God bless you less if you give a fast offering without fasting? I have a hard time believing that.
Self-denial is baked into the LDS experience, whether in terms of the Word of Wisdom, time spent on callings that you would rather spend doing other things, or postponing happiness until the next life (just to mention a few things). It is, by definition, voluntary–nobody is forcing anyone to remain in the Church. But I think the degree to which you allow it to completely overwhelm your common sense or physical and mental health is what everyone must determine individually.
As an aside, let me say how much I loathe the saccharine LDS phrase “you can do hard things” and the implied righteousness of anything that is “hard.”
Being far from even an average Saint, in terms of spiritual attainment, this post and so many others make me scratch my head, “Why is it so difficult to simply obey the commandments?” The commandments-proper include caring for the poor, however we’re able personally, of course. But giving to a food bank (noble) rather than making a fast offering (fasting or not) seems very rationalized. Like when Jana Riess decided to pay her “tithing” to non-LDS Church charities…as if they were equivalent. Now, I don’t know why people would do this, so I am speculating in my analogy, but as if yoga meditation, for all of its benefits, is the same thing as praying to Heavenly Father. Rather than random ideas and conclusions, all of these kinds of decisions to work solely outside of the purview of the LDS Church seems very very loose with your Church membership and, more specifically, your temple attendance. In sharing this thought, I’m not interested in more rationalizations in response, if any. I’m interested in knowing why any faithful Saint thinks that the LDS Church…the Kingdom of God on earth…is unnecessary or circumstantially irrelevant in keeping the commandments of God? I don’t know fully where my tithing and FO’s go, and I don’t care because I am keeping commandments. I don’t give because of where my money goes. I give because I am commanded to by God. The LDS Church donates to many charities and causes I do not support personally. That’s its business, not mine. I’m not accountable for how God’s Brethren make their decisions. I’m only accountable for my decisions. So, why folks, do you rationalize not participating in the LDS Church? Or, perhaps more pointedly but without assumption, why not simply say you no longer are a Latter-day Saint?
LWS mentioned “I feel closest to God outside when I look at the sky and vegetation”. I agree. But I also feel closer after a long or difficult height than I do while driving. The physical effort does seem to increase the focus and appreciation.
My children have wanted some expensive things that I have made them work for. Was is it unnecessary suffering that my daughter grew and sold tomatoes to contribute towards a special camp, when I could have paid the entire bill myself (I did end up paying 80%)?
Some can serve and give and receive from positions of comfort. Others are more inclined towards empathy or gratitude with some discomfort. One size doesn’t fit all, but I think that some people get some good from being reminded the first Sunday of the month to think about those less materially rich.
I think we better define suffering. I don’t think hard work or self-sacrifice really qualifies. Can real suffering exist when simply exercising self-denial or exercising? These are performed with a beneficial goal in mind.
Those dark nights of the soul where I was really suffering were generally accompanied by amazing humans coming to my aid, sometimes at great cost to themselves. Personal suffering, whether self-inflicted are not, has served as a reminder to me of the goodness of others. God was not always involved.
I agree with Old Man that working hard toward a goal is probably different.
Old Man has a good point. Hard work towards a goal isn’t the type of suffering I was thinking of when I wrote this post. Hard work can definitely cause suffering (especially if you strain yourself in the heat and end up with heat exhaustion). But, for example, following a restrictive, yet healthy, diet as part of a sports team training regimen wouldn’t be the type of suffering I wrote this post about. Or doing extra chores to earn money towards a goal. I’d define that more as self-discipline than voluntary suffering.
Discussions of different types of suffering are, of course, very welcome, and others may have different definitions than I do.
Besides fasting, another type of voluntary suffering that I used to do was to delay taking pain medication. I dunno, I thought I was building character if I tried to tough it out with a headache. Now I take the meds at the beginning of the headache, and it sometimes wipes out the headache entirely. If I wait until the headache is really bad, the meds don’t do much.
Lots of my suffering involves headaches, it appears.
A – I thought of the hair shirts and self-flagellation religious practices too. Perhaps a monk who gets up at 5:00 a.m. for prayers kneeling on a cold stone floor would fit into this “voluntary suffering.” Why not sleep until 7:00 a.m. and then kneel on padding in a warm room? Do the prayers mean less?
I have two perhaps contradictory thoughts on this question. I don’t believe that God would bless someone for voluntarily causing themself to suffer. Why would he, what’s the point? It’s not benefiting others and it’s debatable if it’s helpful to the person performing the self flagellation.
That said I suppose there can be times when causing self harm might result in some forms of benefit to the individual. I’m an endurance runner and a couple of times a year I’ll run for 15 hours straight (well running and walking). Running that long can be straight up awful and my family legitimately can’t understand why I do it. I like the feeling afterwards, that I did something difficult, and I like to pretend that it makes me more emotionally and mentally strong, although medical studies have found that running more than say a couple of hours isn’t healthy. So maybe I’m punishing myself physically to become mentally stronger. I just don’t see God caring two hoots about me running, it’s just a nice benefit that along with a new T-shirt and a $2 medal I feel cool even though not another soul cares one bit.
Much suffering is the consequences of previous decisions, either individually or collectively. I don’t know if it is subconscious or not but there are references to heat in the comments. Could it be excessively hot where you are? Could that be the consequence of inaction on climate change globally? Unless that relationship is acknowledged, and acted upon, it will continue to become worse with unexpected consequences. For example I live near a seaside resort. 1000k north are seaside resorts where you can no longer swim in the Pacific ocean because of irratangi stingers, and crocadiles. As the ocean warms the habitats for these nasties could include my local seaside resorts.
On the other hand some people have medical conditions which cause them pain, and limit their abilities, some of which are consequences of previous actions (smokers with lung cancer or emphysema), while others have done nothing to contribute to the suffering.
On the third hand there are people who are abused and caused to suffer by the prejudice of others, not by anything they have done. As societies become more caring (if we choose that they do) support shifts from the abusers to the victims.
There are societies, even whole countries, where the collective will is to help individuals reduce suffering whether they are suffering medically, with universal healthcare, and than medically assisted dying, to support in various ways emotionally, or physically abused people (usually women) abused by partners, to helping people get out of poverty by removing impediments, and for example making university places free for underprivileged/poor so there is less likelihood of the next generation continuing to suffer in poverty. We collectively choose our consequences.
I think that it is Isaiah who tells us that if we’re miserable (suffering) while fasting, then we’re doing something wrong. If fasting causes one misery and suffering, then one might ought not fast. I don’t see fasting as voluntary suffering, unless perhaps it is done for the wrong reason, in which case it might be best not to do it at all. I try to fast monthly, and skipping two meals doesn’t cause me to suffer. If someone can’t fast for medical reasons, then one probably shouldn’t fast. I don’t think that living the gospel should cause suffering.
I commented in a previous article about how my mission banned lds.org. That wasn’t the only thing they banned. We also couldn’t play sports, play musical instruments, listen to any music besides hymns, play any board or card games, or read anything besides scriptures/Preach My Gospel/ The Liahona. We also couldn’t go to any ward activity without an investigator, and this included Saturday sessions of general conference. Some of these rules could be justified in some way, but I think the real reason for most of them is that we expected God to bless us for voluntary suffering. Our mission taught and baptized little since Russia is a difficult place to do missionary work, and we were desperate for anything in our control that could help us.
Great topic. It is fascinating how we interact with genuine suffering. In everything from Joseph Campbell’s “Heroes Journey” to Star Wars the protagonist is a valiant individual who goes through great hardship before she finds redemption and victory, and the cheering can begin. One seldom hears a story about the original building of the Nauvoo Temple without the recitation of the story of how the sisters donated their finest china to be broken and added to the mortar to give the temple walls a shiny finish. There’s a lot of pride in that sacrifice that still resonates with many. The Willie and Martin handcart company of 1856 had 3 choices before them: 1) even though they were not completely prepared and had faced setbacks beginning with a late departure in England, they could possibly/theoretically have headed to Zion a few weeks earlier (this, admittedly, would have been tough), 2) they could have wintered in Iowa City or Florence, or 3) they could depart in late August. We can only speculate as to whether we would even know their name if they had chosen option 1 or 2. But they chose #3, unanticipated conditions transpired and 210 members of the two parties died en route. Their story is still memorialized today, and the woulda/coulda/shoulda is pushed to the back in favor of “sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven.”
As for me, I’m not a big fan of suffering. Some say “no pain, no gain”; I say “no pain…a…no pain”. I’m retired, and I often hear other retirees say “I’m retired, yet I’ve never been more busy”. My reply to them is “you’re doing it the wrong way!” The Buddhist’s refer to “Dukkha” which means a kind of suffering or dissatisfaction, as the central condition that we all must deal with prior to enlightenment and Nirvana. I’m really old, so I’ve known since 1965 that I can’t get no satisfaction. So, in conclusion, as for me and my house we will try to continue to give to others within and without of the Church while trying to avoid suffering as much as possible.
Does voluntary suffering bless us? It seems to me that suffering is an immutable part of life and to go searching for more of the thing that will inevitably find you, seems futile.
Organized religion, including the restored Church, with all of its good intention’s, has continuously used religion to ask the wrong questions. As Dave Brisban simply states, “The quality of the means we use Always matches the quality of the ends we produce”. Religion has a real risk of becoming a form of negotiation. Covenants take on a shallow purpose where I agree to offer my obedience in exchange for “blessings”, as we say, which is more accurately my will being done, here on earth, and a nice plot of land in the Celestial kingdom. Religious worship, when done well, reflects the meaning of the word Re-Ligion, “To connect again”, from the Latin “Re ligare.
“Obedience brings blessings” may be my least favorite saying in all of our recorded vernacular. It sounds more and more like a slogan on the latest sportwear. It’s a sales pitch masquerading as faith. Its self-obsessed and manipulative. Somehow, we have turned gospel principles into ways to get God’s attention, to make him more willing to give me what I want, to see me as “worthy” (another one I seriously dislike), to make me deserving of glory. This is backwards and precisely what Jesus spent the bulk of his ministry critiquing. Fasting, or any other religious practice, is not about what is gets me, that’s the wrong question. Its value, if there is any, for me, lies in the possibility of helping me stop making life all about me, to actually make an act of solidarity in a way, that I have a better sense of the suffering (hunger) around me.
Todd,
My understanding of religare is “to bind” or “re-bind”. I think it means commitment or dedication. But I like the gist of your comment.
HokieKate – I thought of a better analogy in response to your question about making your daughter work to earn money. What if, instead of telling her to grow and sell tomatoes (learning a valuable skill), you told her that you would pay her for walking over a floor covered in Legos? If she could walk on Legos in her bare feet, she could earn money. That’s a particularly useless form of suffering to do on purpose. Does it have any value? I suggest not.
Paul Mero – you said, “I’m interested in knowing why any faithful Saint thinks that the LDS Church…the Kingdom of God on earth…is unnecessary or circumstantially irrelevant in keeping the commandments of God?” Easy answer to that: I’m not a faithful Saint anymore. I use my blog posting to deconstruct my past participation in the Church and roll experiences around in my mind to see if there’s anything of value I want to keep from them. Because of my heritage and the 40+ years of my life that I was a faithful Saint, I’ll always consider myself a Mormon, but I am not a faithful Saint. I’ve concluded that I find no value in voluntary suffering. I work hard and make efforts at things that are important to me and sometimes that causes pain or delay, but skipping meals to help the poor is, in my life, completely unnecessary.
Toad – I have a friend who does extreme marathons. I don’t understand her at all, but I also respect her right to cause herself some pain because she loves the feeling of accomplishment she gets. She enjoys running. Pain and enjoyment sometimes go hand in hand.
Geoff-Aus, this post was specifically about voluntary suffering. Your comment called out many things that are unavoidable. Just in general, modern society’s ability to reduce suffering has changed our attitude towards suffering. Like, painkillers and anesthetic reduce suffering. Modern medicine. Air conditioning and central heating. Physical comfort like the recliner I’m sitting in while I type this. Removing and lessening suffering has been a goal throughout time, but modern science and tech has made lessened suffering a lot more widespread than at any time in history, I believe.
Janey,
If you suffer through heatwaves, drought, and forest fires, that are the consequence of climate change that you collectively refused to address is that voluntary suffering?
If trump wins in 24 will the resulting chaos be collective voluntary suffering?
You were talking individual voluntary suffering. I was trying to broaden the discussion out to the societies we create that choose to cause more suffering while other societies work to reduce suffering.
Another example; of first world countries the majority have less than 1 person in 1000 in prison, and one country has 7 of 1000 in prison. Is that number of extra people suffering in prison caused voluntarily by the voters creating that society. Do we have responsibility for the society we create that either inflicts suffering or alleviates it. Is the voluntary at the voting stage? Vote for law and order or vote for social services? I believe Christ would vote for services for those suffering, church leaders vote republican we understand.
I also wanted to say on your third question I believe you have more invested in something you work/suffer for. My wife and I designed and then built with our own hands, our home. We have done this on a number of occasions, and it allows us to live in a manner beyond our income. Another person could have a builder build an equivalent house. Another person could buy a house equivalent to mine and have a different relationship to the building. A person renting a similar house has a different relationship again. The more of your own self you put into the build the more you love it, the more pride, and acomplishment are justified.
Hmmm, nope, I don’t think climate change and chaos are voluntary suffering. I think those are in the category of suffering for other peoples’ sins. Greed, selfishness, hatred, lies, gerrymandering, manipulation and greed again – for both power and money, produce the suffering you’re talking about. Those are sins that make other people suffer.
A comment above mentioned self-denial. kamron2 mentioned restrictions as a missionary. Boyd Packer barred our exploration of little factories – oops I mean Elder/President Boyd K. The “Mormons” have vanished. The Church has a huge bank account but free cleaning labor. Kids get heat stroke/exhaustion on Pioneer Trek. JCS (and probably RMN) wants to police our diet and leisure activities.
Would like an entire post about question 2 above – Why do Church leaders want us to cause ourselves unnecessary suffering?
And I long ago abandoned my fear of R-rated movies…
Jesus voluntarily suffered for us.
Janey,
I’ve been turning this post and the comments over in my head a lot this week. Especially helpful for me was in some of the comments where you teased out the differences between character-building suffering (that may not be intrinsically necessary but is demonstrably necessary to meet some goal in the here-and-now the sufferer deems valuable) and truly unnecessary suffering (that LEGO floor image will come to mind each time the building clean-up sign-up sheet is passed around).
No, I don’t think God values that kind of suffering. However, I do think one person’s unnecessary suffering may be another person’s edifying experience. My mom finds fasting hard and cleaning the building a chore, and yet claims to benefit from each. More power to her.
My dad always says we should do at least one hard thing we’d rather not every day to build character (he says this was advice he learned from David O McKay). Most lives are going to involve that, no matter what. You’ve gotten me thinking about is how truly necessary some of my suffering is.
On Discussion Question 2: Is it the sunk cost fallacy that says because I’ve invested X-much in this losing proposition, I can’t pull out because then I’m admitting my investment is worthless? The cynic in me thinks that some Church leaders are aware of this, and so they encourage needless suffering as a way of retaining folks who’d otherwise walk. I also think that, as a species, wielding power is, at its most primal level, very much about controlling others’ bodies. If I can influence—or better still control—your access to things like sex(or the decision not to have sex—thank you for that post a while back), and security, and comfort: if I can make you suffer if I give the word, that’s power! That is kind of Patriarchy’s whole thing, right? So it would make sense that a patriarchal god and his acolytes would want us to suffer just to prove He and they were powerful enough to do so.
Anyway, thank you for giving me so much to think about.
A few years before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed, one municipal or state transportation board was considering getting wheelchair accessible buses. One of the board members who voted against this costly change was later was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
It has been a few decades since I read his account of this, so I don’t recall the governing entity, or even the actual disabling condition that led to him needing to use a wheelchair, but the gist of his experience has stuck with me.
Until he experienced it, he did not recognize the impact that removing barriers has on a relatively small, but significant portion of people in the community.
My own child had recently been diagnosed with a disabling condition. Understandably, it has been life changing for the child, and my family. I know Janey is looking at voluntary suffering, but the lived experience may illustrate some useful things.
I have advocated for some changes that make the world somewhat more accessible. When our elementary school got a new playground structure, they surrounded it with a low wall to contain the bark chips underneath it. I asked if they could make a ramp to the new equipment. They did, in a half-hearted way. It was completely illogically placed. They could have followed the contours of the playground, and the ramp could have led to a small portion of the toy that was built low. How they did it was useless. This not only affected my child, but other children that would attend through the years.
I wished the district leaders would each use a wheelchair for one week every year. If they did, they may have selected a different big toy, would have oriented it differently, would have incorporated a usable ramp to the structure, and would have used small wood chips instead of big ones. Et cetera.
Universal design benefits us all. It is elegant, and enduring. Things happen in life. Lots of people carry in bags of groceries, break bones, have difficult pregnancies, move furniture, lose function with age, and have friends who cannot even get to our front door or use our guest bathroom.
What if something like fasting focused on each of us gaining empathy for others, instead of blessings for ourselves?