The Problem of Pain

"This book was a very powerful book for me, because it reminded me that being a believer does not exempt me from pain. There is this false notion that, if we love God, somehow we’ll be healthy and wealthy and things will be better and easier. That’s not true. As far as how it’s affected my view of government, I think it’s given me a perspective that you don’t take a stand because it’s comfortable. You don’t take a position because it’s going to make you popular. You should take some positions knowing full well that they’re going to make you unpopular. I had to do that many times as governor of Arkansas, particularly as I tried to improve education in my state. I took a stand for school consolidation in rural districts as a way to save money and broaden opportunity for kids. For months, every day on the Capitol, people would rally and scream and wave signs. It was not pleasant. I would go to a speaking event and people would scream at me on the way in and the way out. And if they could get in, they could scream at me throughout the event. Those were not pleasant moments. But you learn that things, if they’re worthwhile, are worth experiencing some pain for. Absolutely. First of all, it gave me a sense of true empathy when I see other people who are going through a challenge. Some people will come up to you when you are going through a challenge and they’ll say, ‘Oh, I know how you feel.’ And they really don’t. But there are some things about life about which I think my wife and I can say, ‘We do know how you feel, because we have been through it.’ We got a sense of how frail life is, how very vulnerable we are on any given day. And that pain is not a punishment for anything we’ve done wrong. We can’t keep pain from happening, but we can determine how we handle it and learn from it. There is no such thing as a perfect life, a perfect body. There has to be some level of responsibility shared by the person who receives benefits. It’s also given me an understanding that you have to be sympathetic. If you hear people say, ‘We’re going to cut this benefit out,’ and it sounds expendable… For example, eyeglasses for an old person. If you cut the $50 eyeglasses for a Medicaid recipient, it may not seem like a life or death matter. But if that person doesn’t have eyeglasses and can’t read a prescription bottle, they could take the wrong medicine and end up in the hospital. The point being that you have to remember there is a human being behind every decision you make."