Can extreme suffering be redeemed? Can this life be made "ok" in any philosophy?>Lacey Ellen Fletcher (November 25, 1985 – January 3, 2022) was autistic and reportedly experienced bullying in high school. Her parents, Sheila and Clay Fletcher, later withdrew her from school in favor of homeschooling. Sheila and Clay were known to complain about Lacey, stating that they had not wanted to be caregivers when they became parents.>When Lacey was 24 years old, a decline in her cognitive health led to her being unable to leave the house.[citation needed] She became confined to the family's leather couch, but instead of seeking medical assistance, Sheila and Clay left Lacey on the couch. She was left unattended for such a long time that, when she was later found dead, she was covered in her own excrement; bugs and maggots were reportedly eating away at her body, and she had become fused to the leather couch.[1][2]>Following Lacey's cognitive health decline, which led to her inability to leave the house, Sheila and Clay left her on the couch and placed towels next to her so Lacey's feces and urine would be easier for them to clean. The rest of their house was well-cleaned, except for the couch, where Lacey could not move independently. Over time, Lacey's clothes no longer fit her, simply draping off her body. Clay and Sheila would frequently leave for days to go on vacation, leaving her to starve. Her muscles subsequently atrophied, and vermin began to eat at her extremities under the couch, leaving mouse droppings and maggots to thrive in the space. There were signs she had been trying to lift herself out of the couch to avoid the pain. Still, due to severe malnourishment and atrophy in her leg muscles, she was unable to.[3] Her body fused into the leather couch cushions as she was covered in urine and feces, as well as maggots living in her hair and inside her. She suffered starvation and bone infections, leading finally to sepsis, which caused her death. She had feces and couch cushioning both under her fingernails and in her stomach contents, showing she had attempted to save herself by eating her surroundings before dying on the couch while or shortly after Clay and Sheila vacationed for the holidays.[2]
>>25237542Man I could've saved her. I have autism myself. Legit diagnosis too. I'm three years older than her. She's my sister's age.
>>25237542This life is made ok in Christianity. Matter of fact, this life is preferred to a normal life, because the more you suffer in this life, the better is your afterlife.
>>25237542Depends what you mean by redemption. The Abrahamic religions want you to believe that a benevolent God did this to her on purpose, which is obviously nonsense. The eastern philosophies teach that her parents ultimately aren’t different than her, that by abusing her they really abused their own Self, and that they may possibly be reincarnated as her and have to live out her suffering for themselves. This, to me, is approaching something that makes sense.
>>25237542Cases like this are obviously among the worst things imaginable, no argument there. But philosophically, I don't think you can isolate human suffering from the broader picture. The scale of suffering we collectively produce and tolerate becomes hard to ignore.That said, I don't think suffering like this can be "redeemed" in the sense of being made justifiable. At most, any serious philosophy can only point toward reducing suffering wherever it exists, and doing so consistently.There is a very obvious implication that follows from that, but 98-99% of people don't want to hear it.
>>25237626>The Abrahamic religions want you to believe that a benevolent God did this to her on purpose, which is obviously nonsenseYou're right, that's complete nonsense. A caricature. Even the most conservative strands of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism don't claim that God directly wills specific acts of abuse in that simplistic sense.
