Well we Created some of the rules. The universe can be broken up into two sets of rules, or two sets of realities, natural rules and man made rules. All people can close their eyes to the former, but this does not make a lick of difference. But if all people close their eyes to the latter it ceases to exist. Which set of rules causes you greater suffering?

People usually think that having highly developed brains and being a highly social species is simply a "good" thing, because we're able to reflect upon the world around us, imagine what could be, find connections between abstract things and interpret them in highly symbolic ways. But this is a benefit and a hindrance at the same time. We're able to reflect and think about forces and structures that influence our lives; this means we often see structures and connections that aren't really there or we interpret things from a social standpoint; thinking that everything has a meaning, agency and wants to tell us something.
This leads to the question why avalanches happen; not only to find the reason and prevent them from happening in the future, but also because we think they might have a greater meaning, are a symbol for something and need to be interpreted. It's difficult to not use the eagerness of our brains and to not overly interpret the world, because in the end the idea that the universe wants to talk to us or that a great mysterious "force" wants to get in contact with us are illusions grounded in an exclusively anthropocentric perspective on the world. Maybe it's hard to realize that nature doesn't want to talk to us, has no plan for us and doesn't even care about us; nature only exists, changes, lives and dies without any values and purpose in itself. And if we notice the missing of purpose and the missing of values (because these things themselves are human constructs) we feel the need to impose them, because often we think that the missing of meaning makes everything meaningless. Basically all religious ideas and philosophy too have developed to deal with the missing of meaning in the universe. It's trying to find an answer for a question that doesn't even exist; a question we invent.
Being able to blame something or someone feels comforting. We cannot accept that some things just happen without a cause and without somebody responsible for them. Accepting that would take us back to the missing of meaning and that is scary for many people.

But to go back to the initial point: We as a species aren't entitled to anything. One could argue that the natural forces around us, the interactions with other living creatures and evolutionary processes "entitle" us to live on, adapt, change and eventually die and give rise to other creatures, but this isn't a sentient process and has no meaning either.
We need suffering to be able to maneuver in the world. Suffering indicates something harmful and even something deadly; it indicates things we should avoid, but not necessarily things we absolutely have to avoid.
I usually use the metaphor of a save pathway on shaky ground to illustrate this: We try to avoid stepping on fragile ground and constantly change our behavior and direction to not step into the large fields of suffering and death that encircle the pathways we can move on safely. There might be a possibility to walk on a path that has no suffering at all, but we cannot see where we go; we have to experience every step and this way we get in contact with the harmful rims of the path all the time, change direction and try to find a less harmful way. The only important thing is to stay on the path — yes, sometimes it's possible to depart from it and experience great suffering that lies in the fields next to it, but if we leave the path entirely, the fields of suffering will be followed by the pits of death. Suffering indicates the rims of living and the limits to things that are bearable.

 

 

We're not entitled to happiness, but we sure do want it.

what i-stamp said.  furthermore, my main beef with people talking about suffering is when they try to claim there is some good in all suffering - which is patently false. some suffering is simply pointless.  it's not that we inherently merit something better, but rather the notion that there is inherent meaning in any suffering is flat out incorrect.

I don't feel entitled to only good things and zero suffering. Which is one of the many reasons I think heaven is a terrible idea. We need the bad times to remind us why the good times are so good, to spurn growth (there is no growth with perfection) and to have goals. Without a balance of good and bad then both lose their meaning and become stagnant. Like only being given cake for the rest of your life, it's too much of a good thing with no contrast. 

However, that has nothing to do with what a lot of people are talking about with 'why do bad things happen?' Because when talking about an omnibenevolent and omnipotent/omnipresent deity, the Problem of Evil is a serious flaw to the characterization provided by the bible (not to mention the actions of aforementioned deity within). 

I don't think we're entitled to anything except what we can create and acquire for ourselves. But we're capable of creating and acquiring such things, in ways that an animal can't.

i feel the same way... why do people feel like they are entitled to a world without suffering??? i don't get it.

Doesn't matter whether one feels entitled to that or not. You sure as hell aren't going to get it. Often someone will be to blame, sometimes it will be yourself, sometimes it will be people who, frankly, couldn't give a shit about you or the little group of people you belong to.