This is not a religious posting however it does refer to a desparate question.

A long time ago I attended a Schizophrenia fellowship meeting where a reknown Doctor was presenting a seminar on the nature of this illness.

The room was full of parents and siblings all searching for answers for their loved ones condition. The room was very emotional and lot's of pain was obvious.

At the end of the speach by the Doctor questions where asked of the audience.

A man in his 40s jumped up and asked an impossible question.

Why does God allow such misery to exist?

His pain was obvious and he was very upset.

The Doctor was unable to respond and was sympathetic but at a loss as to what to do.

An elderly man in the back row got up and said he had an answer.

He said ( if I remember correctly)
" We have such misery so that we can appreciate our good fortune" and " we have insanity so that we can understand what sanity is and how fortunate we are that we have sanity"

An excersise in relativity yes?

When I heard this I thought, but why such intense misery and is this justifiable. Just for the sake of relativity we have such misery.

Howard is 95 and lives in a senior citizen home. Every night
after dinner Howard goes to a secluded garden behind the center to sit and ponder his accomplishments and long life.
One evening, Annabel, age 87, wanders into the garden. They
begin to chat, and before they know it, several hours have passed. After a short lull in their conversation, Howard turns to Annabel and asks, "Do you know what miss most of all?" She asks "What?" and he replies, "SEX!!!". Annabel exclaims, "Why you old fart, you couldn't get it up if I held a gun to your head!" "I know", Howard says, "but it would be nice if a woman just held it for a while". "Well, I can oblige," says Annabel, who gently unzips his trousers and removes his manhood and proceeds to hold it. Afterward, they agree to meet secretly each night in the garden where they would sit and talk and Annabel would hold Howard's manhood. Then, one night, Howard didn't show up at their usual meeting place. Alarmed, Annabel decided to find Howard and make sure he was O.K. She walked around the senior citizen home where she found him sitting by the pool with another female resident who was holding Howard's manhood! Furious, Annabel yelled, "You two-timing creep! What does she have that I don't have?!" Howard smiled and replied, "Parkinson's"