The Northern Review

The news on the Northern Tier today brings us the story of deaths of six people in a car collision near Cambridge, Minnesota.  Why God? in the Star and Tribune.  What is there to say?  We know that four were young people just starting their lives. News of the other two has yet to come out. 

We hurt for them, for the families left behind, for the loss, the tragic painful loss.  We feel the pain of the deaths these people suffered.  We are overwhelmed by the tragedy.  What can be said?  It seems all so senseless, so evil.  What is the antidote?  What is the consolation?  What is the answer?  What is it to those still living?  How is it that they go on?  And, they will, in their own ways.  But, still one wonders, “how do I face this evil, this death, this violence, what is my response, what response is possible?”

How does one respond?  What difference is there in the response whether you are white, Native American, black –, whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jew, agnostic, atheist –. whether you are rich or poor, whether you are young or old, whether you are depressed or happy, . . .

Maybe we can read the Book of Job.  That will give us some help, some understanding, but will it? 

A man from Thunder Bay, Ontario, has thought about the Book of Job.  His name is Robert Sutherland.  He practices law in Newfoundland.  Here is his website and an introduction to his book.  His book is Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job.

There is another from Newfoundland who gives us insight into the world of suffering and loss and who also gives a sense of consolation as only literature can give.  His name is Wayne Johnston and of the several books this talented man has written, two are my favorites — The Custodian of Paradise and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. 

There is also something else in these times of loss and heartache — the simple fact of the universe.  So there we have the most wonderful place of consolation and truth, nature, our back yard, the woods, the prairie, the mountains, the oceans and our inland seas, the wind blowing southeasterly from the High Canadian Plains, the universe.