Bad Things

Bad things happen to good people.

Other people say things meant to be comforting or positive, or maybe just wise.  Religious things, like "God won't give you something you can't handle" or philosophical things, like "It's not what happens, but how you deal with it".  Maybe something vague, like "It will all work out for the best", or trite, like "Let me know if there's anything I can do".  Occasionally mom-like, as in "I told you this would happen".  Nobody ever says "I've got your back.  Let's go kick some ass", which is too bad.

I have a friend whose sister spent last night duct-taped to a chair in a closet, after her boyfriend beat the crap out of her and left her there.  Wouldn't it be nice, if instead of saying "Oh, how awful, she'll be in my prayers", someone could say "Let's go find that boyfriend and beat the living crap out of him and leave him in a ditch somewhere."

The odds of actually forming a posse and delivering some justice are probably less than following through on all the good intentions we have when we hear of someone else's troubles, but tonight for some reason they seem more satisfying.

Not sure what I could do in the case of L's cousin.  She is not responding well at all to treatments for a relatively treatable disease.  She is much more positive than I would be in her place.  While I admit that getting angry at a disease, or a situation, isn't always the most productive approach, her requests for prayers and support aren't working very well either.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.  Not sure whether to be mad, that bad things don't happen more often to bad people, or sad, that I can't do much about any of it besides offer up a cliche, maybe a prayer and a casserole.