The lightbulb isn't alive. It's an inanimate object. We are not. I believe we have souls, and that we're more than the sum of the chemical reactions that create electrical signals that in turn make our bodies function.

Yes life is full of sadness and pain, but sadly, without sadness and pain, how could we experience joy and comfort? All of those experiences (good and bad) are what is molding the creature that is ourselves. The sum of those experiences is what I believe we carry with us into the next life, to become what we will be in that place, whatever and wherever it is.

Shortly before he died, my wife told her cousin that he was like a caterpillar shedding his skin and becoming the butterfly that he was pupating into while he was on this earth. I thought that was a beautiful analogy of what life was.

Simply because the bad is so difficult to bear, you can't ignore the good. And just because the good is so beautiful, you can't ignore the bad. You need to see them both for either to have value. No one likes to hurt, but without it, we can't grow as a person.