newbee – I think his explanation is not so simplistic. I don’t find it so hard to understand, I think it makes more sense to me than thinking suffering is random.
But I think there is much more to it, such as a neshoma has the chance to see in advance what his life will be like and he agrees to it. I was taught that a neshoma that could not resist certain temptations and could not get into Gan Eden because of it was offered the opportunity to come back to this world to try to do tshuva. The neshama, fully understanding the strength and pull of a taiva, begged to be born with a body that will not even be capable of falling prey to that temptation. For that reason, a neshama who fell prey to znus may beg to be blind, or disfigured. A thief may beg to be handicapped.