“You mean to tell me that my tragedies reward others?” inquired a rather irritated voice. “God views my life as a pathetic existence that can be poked and manipulated in order to benefit some random child in Nebraska?” Her volume escalated with each word. “If that’s the case, MAYBE I SHOULD JUST KILL MYSELF. THEN SOME DRUG-DEALING THUG CAN WIN THE LOTTERY!”

“Ms. Johansson, please calm down. It was not my intention to trouble you,” spoke an unusually calm priest. She breathed deeply and relaxed, deciding that shouting obscenely at a religious figure would not produce fruitful results.

“Listen, I’m simply not satisfied with that explanation.”

“Unfortunately, you misinterpreted what I said,” asserted the priest with a vigorous strength in his voice now that surprised the both of them. “You exaggerate the negative. In reality, it is true – good does blossom out of evil. Often times someone else, or even the victim of the emotional of physical crime itself, is graced with a miracle, or at the very least a convenient happening. But it exists the other way around, as well. Think of something good that happened in your past.”

She pondered the question, recalling a time when a neighbor handed her an envelope with five-hundred dollars in it. He explained that the people who lived in the apartment before Ms. Johansson moved in accidentally left it on the kitchen counter. They had realized this, called the neighbor, and said that since they were already well on their way to their new home out of state, the money could be left for the next person to live in the apartment. She explained this situation to the priest.

“Now you see? In the perspective of the people who moved out, they lost five-hundred dollars. In your point of view, you received free cash!” proclaimed the priest, happy to have made his point successfully.

“I still wish the world didn’t work this way.”

“I’d be careful what you wish for, Allyson.”