Does everything happen for a reason?

I think the outright assertion that everything happens for a reason is easily refuted.  Over 200,000 human beings perished in the 2004 Asian tsunami.  The number of Jews killed in WWII is nearly half of the current total Jewish population.  And, well, if we are talking numbers, around 60 million people died in WWII.  If these things happen to teach us a lesson, perhaps appreciation of human life, it is quite literally overkill.

I think that people who claim that everything happens for a reason often mean that a benevolent god makes these terrible things happen.  And although they may seem terrible to us, they are means to some benevolent end.  But come on, that would be at the very least an inefficient method of achieving a benevolent outcome--whatever the heck that could be.

But at a very personal and subjective level, the spirit of the idea can make sense.  An individual may face terrible adversity, find personal meaning in it, and make the best of it.  It isn't necessarily that every terrible thing that happened to such a person happened for a reason.  It is more the case that the person wouldn't be who he is today without having these experiences, and he embraces his sense of self.