Article: "Suffering and Suffering-With" (Ethika Politika)

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig, "Suffering and Suffering-With," Ethika Politika.

In this touching essay, the author relates her experience growing up with her brother who suffered from depression.  She speaks of the exhaustion and feelings of helplessness that the families of those who are depressed can feel when they see their loved ones suffer.  But, drawing on the example of Christ and the disciples in Gethsemane, she has come to believe that, even if compassion can't always save the depressed, the act of "suffering-with" those who are depressed and suicidal still has value - both for the depressed person and for the person striving to be with them in their pain.  She writes: "If we see that someone is suffering and we know that he may very well feel compelled by his agony to consider suicide, it is in fact our duty to approach him with love and support rather than shame and suspicion."  As Christians who believe in a God who came precisely to suffer with and suffer for us, we too are called, always and everywhere, to respond with compassion to the hopelessness of the depressed.