I think that we are challenged by the darkness -- but not all things are dark. We are here to polish our spirits, to make them strong and to learn valuable lessons of tolerance, patience, kindness and love.
It's easy to love those in a crisis who may need our help at a distance, but it is a real challenge to love those nearest and dearest to us -- and right under our own roof, because we know them so well and take them for granted, or wish that they would change their habits, etc., forgetting that, they, too, are simply on their own road to perfection. Loving someone just because they 'are' and letting them be their own person takes us toward a loving detachment -- similar to God's role in our own lives. Each individual is here to experience. To experience whatever challenges and obstacles that they have chosen for their own higher purpose. None of us can know what those might be, so it is our task to allow them to follow their path and their purpose.