A Letter to Stephen Fry

Dear Stephen Fry,

This morning, my sister forwarded me a video with your now infamous response to the question of what you would say to God if, in fact, He did exist. I was not shocked so much as to what you said but with the vehemence in which you said it. It leads me to believe that there is a very personal reason in which you hate the very existence of God.

Your reasons for such a "capricious" God is bone cancer in children, and insects that burrow into the eyes of children. Very odd choices, considering you could have gone with AIDs, Ebola, heck, even the omnipresent Common Cold.  So, that leads to me think that your personal reason, which has a great affect on you, either occurred to you when you were young or someone you knew who was young.

First, let me say that yes, you are correct. We live in what seems to be a most cruel world, and there are a lot of things in it that can, and will kill, us in the most horribles of ways. The most simple answer is that no one knows why there is suffering in the world.  If anyone says that they have an answer, they are wrong, including the Pope and whatever the atheist version of the Pope is.  We must overcome suffering, or it will surely overcome us.

What you insist is that if God existed, then He would make all the suffering and diseases go away, and we can live our happy, hedonistic lives.  But we're not here to overindulge. We're here to help each other, and we can only do that with suffering. Yes, there are many diseases in the world, but why haven't we united to wipe them out yet? Why don't the rich back enough research to make bone cancer a thing of the past? Because they want to live their happy, hedonistic lives. We all have free will, and, right now, we all choose to help ourselves, not those around us.

Stephen, let's be honest. You don't look like you've missed many meals, and you probably haven't gone  without a roof over your head either. So, why don't you skip the histrionics and donate money to help cure cancer, or better yet, since it weighs on your mind so much, donate a million goggles to protect the eyes of children in third world countries. Don't be the man who buried his talents. (Oh, sorry. That's from the Bible, that collection of stories that illustrates how to live your life.)

I am truly sorry for the bitterness you hold in your heart. United, humanity can accomplished anything. I believe in this, and that is why God put us here. But, until we do this, we will be nothing more than mere children fighting with each other.

Sincerely and etcetera…

PS - I loved you in that movie, you know, the one with the dry humor and you were all sardonic and such. Yes, that's the one.