I honestly believe that the Holocaust was the greatest crime in history. You would have had to be there, Howard, to realize the magnitude of the despair and hopelessness that covered us all after the war. It was hard to say why anyone should wish to continue living in such a world. I felt, along with thousands of others, that suicide was the logical conclusion of truth. I believe that this universe, which is capable of killing millions with one bomb, results in a feeling that existence is anguish. I believe that it is a sickness tha only death can cure. If there is a God, why does he allow so many innocent people to writhe in anguish?
Albert Camus, talking to Howard Mumma in The Wearied Existentialist
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The reason for being here (Gregory Corrigan)
The man walked down the main street in his town.
He saw beggars, cripples, people in a state of misery.
Unable to live with so much suffering, he implored to heaven above: "God, how can you love human beings so much and at the same time do nothing for those who are suffering?"
"I did something for them," a voice said. "I made you."
Mumma's own reply (Mumma was a Methodist minister - originally from Ohio - at the American Church in Paris, which Camus had visited in order to hear the music of the famous organist Marcel Dupré):
"Albert," I said, "I must confess that there are no easy answers. In fact,we are getting into deep water with this issue. As a minister,I have witnessed many of the difficulties of human existence. I have seen families wiped out by natural disasters, senseless killings, terrible diseases that wrack the body and the mind. I've seen the consequences of sin and selfishness. It may surprise you to know that, faced with the repulsive acts of this world, I have asked myself this same question many times."
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