Pain always exists in any life.
A goal of every human being throughout history has been to live life with as little pain as possible. But everyone has failed.
Even those influential leaders in our society—kings and queens, religious leaders and healers, respected scholars and celebrities—experienced just as much pain as the rest of us. We tried to make their lives painless, but failed. By now we should have realized that a painless life is impossible.
Pain and suffering are inevitable, but the types of pain and suffering we experience can differ. In medieval times one might have been tortured, drawn, and quartered. A hundred years ago one might have been afflicted with polio or smallpox. Today one might live in fear of terrorist attacks. Every generation has its unique set of suffering. We can’t stop suffering.
What we can do as parents is to eradicate the ways we suffered so that our children will no longer experience the same types of pain. New methods of suffering will come up for each new generation. But at least our kids can experience more modern and sophisticated types of pain.