As far as I can determine, there are something like 210 million licensed drivers in the United States. Statistics suggest that some 43,000 people per year die in fatal auto accidents. Given 210 million drivers and 43,000 deaths per year, it would stand to reason that the chances of someone dying in an auto accident in a given year would be 0.02%.
According to the latest statistics from the CDC, in 2009 (the latest data available) slightly less than 600,000 people died of heart disease and another 567,000 died of cancer. These top two along with respiratory diseases, stroke, accidents, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and so on managed all combined to produce a little less than 2.5 million deaths in the United States. They put the age-adjusted death rate at 741 per 100,000 people (that's a 0.74% rate). Life expectancy was over 78 years.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a report on disasters around the world. In 2002, 421 natural disasters were reported with 658 million people listed as "victims" (where "victims" includes the number killed as well as those affected by the disaster). As it turns out, 2002 was a peak year. In 2010, for instance, there were 385 disasters reported with 217 million victims. Given that these are world-wide events, we can do the math. In 2010 there was just under 7 billion people on the planet. Thus, the chance that any random person on the planet in 2010 might have been affected by a natural disaster was 3.1%.
These are just a few examples. Every day, millions of people drive and arrive safely at their destinations. Every day millions of people fly to their destinations and arrive safely. Every day more than one fourth of our population go to school and come home safely. Life expectancy is up. The chances of any random person being in an accident or of dying of a heart attack or of experiencing a natural disaster is astronomically low. Oddly, this is not what you'd expect to see if you are watching the news media.
You see, the function of the news media is not to inform you on what life is like. The people who do not die, who do not get into accidents, who do not get killed by a crazed gunman is not news. Why? Because it's so common place. Billions of children are not kidnapped. Billions of people are not victims of crimes. Billions go through their days without suffering from whatever the latest tragic event occurred in the news. And that's not news.
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that the news media is a problem. Nor am I suggesting in the least that tragic events like heart attacks or traffic accidents or natural disasters are not tragic. What am I trying to say? Here's what I'm suggesting. The next time you want to demand from God an answer to the classic, "Where was God when this happened?", ask yourself if you thanked Him when it didn't. Why is it we do not ask, "Where is God when it doesn't hurt?" Because, you see, one of the most mind-boggling conundrums in human existence is not "Why do bad things happen to good people?" because, after all, no such people exist. No, the real puzzler is "Why do so many good things keep happening to so many sinners?" Turn that mental corner, and perhaps you'll get a glimpse of a reason to be grateful.
3 comments:
I had a good cry over something related this very morning. I have a father whom I love and respect, and who loves and respects me. But we hear all the time about parents hating children, children hating parents. I cried because I was so thankful to God for giving me such a good dad when He could just as easily given me a bad one. God was there when I didn't even realize it.
When know that bad things happen. We just don't seem to be quite as clear that good stuff happens, too, are we?
That tends to be the hardest to remember. Its why "No atheists in foxholes" came about. We forget He's blessing us during the good times too easily and begin to think we are doing so well without Him.
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