suffering

I have to do a double post today, Something has been running in my head for several days and it has to come out.
In this world, there is suffering.
This is one of the starting points for Buddhism (if I am correct) and not so different than some Christian teachings.
I have become acquainted with suffering personally. It is not something i would have chosen, but now it is here, it really is not so bad (Today). Even tho i have my bouts, i am more at peace with it than you might think. I am learning. I figure that is what is all about. Not being bad or good or being punished or rewarded, it is about learning.
I have friends who are going through terrible things, an awful divorce that is rewarding a drug user and crippling him, but he does have something to learn. I hope he does.
His mother who is in great anguish that this has happen and people who are lying are getting rewarded (this is not her perception, it is the truth).
A friend who is going against some of her own standards in order to survive in a world which seems to have pitted everything against her.
My mom who just had her closest childhood friend and relative die.
The list could go on, but there is suffering!
How we cope is the lesson.