The Perfect Morning II: An Essay on Suffering
A year has rolled by since I wrote my first article, "The Perfect Morning." At the time, I was vainly trying to understand what makes humans so fickle, emotional, and unstable. Why human life was designed in a way where we are in a constant struggle for control—control over nature, others, and most importantly, ourselves. My life has been very busy since, and like a rat in a race, I fixated on the racetrack and my fellow rats.
Still, the question lingered, a whisper in the back of my mind. On those rare moments of peace, when the chaos of daily life subsides and my subconscious self could finally reveal its vail. I would hear the voices of my ancestors echoing their timeless question: "Why are we here?"
When I envisioned writing this article, I was thinking of solely writing about how reading "The Myth of Sisyphus," brought another dimension of thinking about human existence that I have never considered. How it offered a new perspective on the perpetual human struggle, like Sisyphus's futile task of pushing the boulder uphill. I thought about exploring how this analogy meant something different for Camus than what I initially envisioned.
As I started to move my stiff fingers on the keyboard, though, I found myself inevitably drawn to talk about the suffering of Palestinians. A wave of shame washed over me, disgust at my own powerlessness against such immense human suffering. I must have seen thousands of videos in the past few weeks, each one an agonizing testament to this pain.
I felt ashamed and disgusted with myself for thinking about the meaning of existence while others were fighting for their very own. In the midst of war, the Palestinians are chanting "Why are we here, just to suffer?"
When I read "L'Étranger" ("The Stranger") at 19, the futility of life and the apparent meaninglessness of our actions consumed me. After all, aren't we all destined for the same end? What purpose, then, could there be in this absurd play? I embraced, or at least believed I embraced, Camus's view and his philosophy of Absurdism.
Reading "The Myth of Sisyphus" finally illuminated my ignorance and revealed what I missed in my earlier encounters with Camus. I finally understood that he wasn't advocating for life's meaninglessness or declaring it unworthy of living. Instead, Camus argued that even though life is inherently absurd, it is still worth living.
The absurdity lies in the fundamental contradiction between our inherent human need to seek meaning in life and the universe's eternal silence to that yearning.
Absurdity, then, could be considered not an endpoint but a starting point. Yet, if it's the beginning, where does it lead? As Camus argued, people often mistakenly equate refusing to impose meaning on life with declaring it worthless. This reasoning could be the very source of what we call absurd reasoning. The paradox here is that if life had a predetermined meaning, we would be confined by it. The fact that life has no meaning is in fact why life is worth living, the fact that it has no meaning, means that every individual is free to create their own.
While the rest of the world is failing to grasp that very meaning, plagued by an incessant need to find something to feel sad about. The Palestinians are giving us a lesson on human existence, on how to find meaning and happiness amidst horrors.
If the Palestinian people can still find the strength to smile, laugh, and embrace life even amidst unimaginable hardship, so can we. Such a beautiful resilience is a powerful lesson, and the least we can do is carry their cries for help. Let the world know what is happening in Palestine. Do not despair, for their own children, with their laughter and hope, show us the way.