Suffering

The conventional wisdom goes, going through hardship makes us good people. Philosopher Julian Baggini doesn't seem to think so. So how did this nugget of wisdom become conventional? Baggini has a proposition:

Why then do so many persist with the idea that suffering is good for us? The religious need to, of course. If suffering is not, on balance, a good thing, then there can be no benevolent creator in charge of this show. But even without a theological motivation, the thought of so much suffering without redemption can be almost intolerable. Believing it has a point can be the only way to make life bearable.