However much we want to avoid it, suffering is the quintessential human experience, universalizing the words of Buddha to Jesus Christ, the music of Beethoven, and the poems of Camões. One cannot be human without it; to feel is to suffer. Ultimately, reflection ends up demonstrating its value. And something good springs from it, as the great and impeccable Louis Lavelle once said. Thanks to suffering, we are understandable and we can understand.