Why?

Why doesn't my son pick up his clothes when I ask? Why do I sleep a little longer when the alarm rings? Why do I eat two cinnamon rolls when one would satisfy me?
Why is there suicide? Murder? Rape? Divorce? Drugs? Lost jobs? Estranged families? Abandonment? Greed? Lust?
Why did my mother have breast cancer? Why did 10,000 die in the Philippines from a typhoon? Why did my daughter's friend's dad die of a heart attack?
Because of choice. Free agency. The ability to choose.
In the premortal world, we were all spirits living with our Heavenly parents and each other. Our Heavenly Father presented a plan called the Plan of Happiness. We could come to earth and obtain a body. Our Heavenly Father wanted us all to return to him. Our older brother Jesus Christ said that he would atone for our sins and be our Savior, so that when we did not keep the commandments, we could repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father. Satan said in order for us all to return to our Heavenly Father, he would force us to make good choices. But our Heavenly Father wanted us to be free to choose, to have the ability to choose between good and evil. We would prove through our choices that we wanted to live with our Heavenly Father again. Satan rebelled and one-third of the spirits of heaven followed Satan. The rest of us chose to come to earth and gain bodies.

Did we know that life would be so hard? That we would be tempted to cheat, lie, rebel? Or that we would experience the great joy of riding a bicycle down hill or finishing a half marathon or swimming in the ocean or hiking to a waterfall or taking in the many colors of fall leaves or birthing a baby or witnessing that child being married? I don't know. But we did choose. And because of that people are allowed to make choices that we don't agree with or that hurt us. And this world is fraught--yes, I said fraught--with bad things that happen because it is a telestial world--a world that has natural disasters and that can make us sick.

But because Christ atoned for our sins and was resurrected, we will all be resurrected. Our bodies and spirits will be reunited. And if we've kept our Heavenly Father's commandments, then we will live with Him again.

Opposition in all things. Good and evil. Light and dark. Health and sickness. We chose this.