Answer

First of all, we shouldn’t be spoiled. I do not see the fear of the future. There is no real existential threat hanging over us, and our situation is far better than in previous situations. So one has to be rational and not let emotions carry us off to other places. What can be depressing is that the way of the wicked succeeds and we fail. Not the outcome and not the threats. The desecration of God’s name, and what that says about the world—that is what is depressing. And what is also depressing is the emotional way people from all segments of the public are reacting. But that phenomenon was not born today. In my eyes, it is no less depressing than the murder. But about that I have nothing encouraging to say, aside from trying to bring people to rational thinking and neutralize the emotions.
I am debating whether to write a column about the situation from the religious perspective (I have a lot bottled up about that), but it seems to me that what I have to say will achieve the opposite result. It will depress and frighten people (who are living in a fantasy that the Holy One, blessed be He, is protecting us, etc.) and will not encourage them, and therefore for now I have not written it. But I am still undecided.
One has to understand that encouragement and giving hope always contain an element of falsehood. You tell people a story that is incorrect or partial in order to encourage them. If reality itself is encouraging, they usually understand that on their own and do not sink into depression. Only in a situation where they are living with a mistaken perception of reality and an incorrect black outlook is there room for rational encouragement.
I did not understand what is meant by saying that God accepted the pain. What is there to “accept” about pain?