Darkness is the lack of light, and pleasure is the absence of grief. How can you appreciate the wonderful parts of life if there are no bad aspects?
Suffering isn't the only thing that people go through. To live a life of sorrow and pain, you must have extraordinarily terrible luck. And since the mind works in this way, the constant pain will ultimately become something that the mind "gets accustomed to."
There are no definitive solutions to the "what's the point" component, as there are too many other existential issues because it is ultimately a question of individual experience and awareness.
However, you may look at the "what's the point" section from a variety of angles.
From a biological standpoint, "the goal" of an individual creature is to participate in the evolutionary process - you have a set of genes in your cells, and if/when you have kids with another individual, your genes will be passed down to the next generation. But I think this response only raises the question of "what's the goal" to a new level: what's the point of the entire evolutionary or biological process, especially on a cosmic scale, if the entire cosmos finally devolves into a static mass of stable porridge as randomness takes its toll?
It is a question of experience from an existential standpoint. If you believe in free will, you have the freedom to define your own existence and purpose. Of course, everything you've gone through in your life has an impact on your decisions and emotions about how significant your life is at any one time. If you've had terrible events and struggled, the response will most likely be very different than if you've been fortunate enough to have had encouraging and pleasant experiences. On the other hand, even if they have all they desire, some people who have enjoyed a stable and secure existence may feel meaningless. Some people have the ability to transform negative events into powerful positive energy.
In any event, there is no correct response. Whatever you're doing, you're answering that question. What motivates you to do what you do? Why did you choose the path you've taken? What's intriguing is how much our decisions are shaped by our history and where our true freedom lies in our choices. Why do some individuals manage to transform adversity into strength and make new choices in their lives, while others crumble under pressure and never recover from their low points?
I'm not sure if I believe in an afterlife, but I do have a practical approach to the issue: If there is no hereafter, I suppose anything we choose to accomplish with our time here is meaningless in many respects. I believe it all boils down to limiting the amount of pain and suffering we experience in our own lives while also decreasing the amount of pain and suffering we inflict on others. This stems from fundamental empathy: I don't want to suffer, so I don't want anyone else to suffer too.