The human drama persists against better judgment.
Movies, books, poems, talk about how the world will beat you down. This is true. But so will the Self and other Selves. And some would say the devil or evil beings.
We love drama, especially in TV and movies. It shows the darkest and greatest parts of a person. We identify with it. Comforts us in thinking well I’m not as bad as that or I am as terrible as that but this is just TV.
Drama tells the truth about us. Our brokenness, hostility, weakness, sinfulness, downright awfulness. Life is tragic. But the tragedy in the current age is that we don’t learn from the tragedy of our lives, necessarily. We wallow in it or bask in it or indulge in it, learning nothing and reveling in calling things pointless or that happened in the moment and it’s over … there was no meaning to it. (This is one take on post-modern tragedy). Tragedy in ancient times and say Shakespeare’s time were meant to teach.
But that’s not the end of the story. There is comedy.
Life is a tragic comedy. I learned this in my Shakespeare class in college. Tragedy is not the end of the story. Shit happens. And it hurts and it destroys and causes a lot of pain. But there is healing and wholeness down the road. The path of this human drama is fraught with pain and suffering. But there is goodness and love and life and joy mixed in too. It is all a mess in our view, but there is One who is working all things toward good.
The life and death of Jesus Christ was fraught with pain and suffering. He was life and joy and goodness. Yet he died, was crucified. Yet He was resurrected bringing life to the world.
In the darkness, there is hope. It is so dark. But like the dark wood and Dante in the Divine Comedy, there are those intervening and those who cross our path who will shine the light of grace and wisdom. Help us see it and take steps forward and not be caught and stuck in the darkness–the dark wood.
The human drama will not last forever. The eternal hope in Judaism and Christianity is all things made new in the their best forms of goodness, truth and beauty–unity with God who made all things–making all things new.