The First Noble Truth tells us how it really is - there is and there will be suffering in any and every life. But this is not just gloomy news, but rather an invitation to turn towards suffering so we begin to understand it, its nature and its causes, so we need no longer to cause our own suffering, or to feel a vicitm of suffering - that we have done something wrong because we are suffering. Opening to suffering also tenderizes the heart, as we open to the depth and the breadth of our own suffering, and the suffering of the world. This is the path to compassion and to freedom.