World of Pain

Picture of a mama groundhog attacking one of her young 'uns.

Can anyone really doubt this is a world of pain?  Anyone over the age of 30, and of sound mind, should admit this is, in fact, a world of pain.  I'm in pain right now: in more areas than one.  It's just another day for me.  Once I thought of the title and subject of this post, I tried to imagine all the pain that all the people and animals were feeling at that moment.  I was overwhelmed by what I felt.  At any given moment, the people and animals of this world are feeling incredible, incalculable amounts of pain.
I was watching the news the other day.  A lot of doctors don't want to practice medicine in the state of New York, becasue the cost of malpractice insurance is so high in this state.  Apparently, several states have put caps on the amount of money someone can collect for "pain and suffering."  According to what I heard, New York does not put a cap on that, so that's why doctors have to pay so much money for their medical malpractice insurance in NY.  They interviewed a man who proposed NY limit "pain and suffering" damages in this state to $250,000.  I couldn't help thinking that I've endured much more than a quarter-million-dollars' worth of pain.  But, in my case, no one person is responsible for all of my pain.  Most of all, LIFE is responsible for my pain.  Life is pain.  To live is to feel pain.  Right from the beginning, what do doctors do to get babies to breathe?  They cause them to cry from pain by spanking them.  Welcome to the world.  Get used to it.  There's much more where that came from.
Every single day, I see more evidence that I've done the right thing by not bringing any people or animals into this world.  This is a world of violent cruelty.  Even the natural order of things has animals being eaten alive by others.  It makes me wonder if there are truly civilized, peaceful planets out there.  This one certainly isn't either of those things.