Jenny used to say that everything happens for a reason—you always teased her for the cliché. If everything happens for a reason, then what about war? What about cancer, school shootings? Jenny would only shake her head, wise and wistful, so resigned in her faith. There has to be a purpose, she would say. Pointless pain isn’t human instinct. We’ll always find meaning in it. Optimistic, you’d say. It’s not optimism, Jenny would tell you. Just survival.
