ABSTRACT
Academic credentials qualify a person on only one level to address the theme of suffering. Lest there be concern that these remarks come from an uninvolved health care ethicist—just another spectator to the incredible suffering humankind must endure—I offer for review my own existential credentials, the litany of my life with regard to the perplexing, depressing, and often infuriating problem of suffering. I have no doubt that most people could match my personal survey of suffering with their own stories. Indeed, we are in this dilemma together—pain does not diminish as quickly as we would wish, memories do not fade as much as we would hope.
