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Life is not fair. It never was, and probably never will be. There is no universal regulatory body to make sure that the just happens. We incorrectly confuse God with Life. He/She (I prefer “It”) is not this life or the force driving it. If it were so, would It let innocents suffer. No, It won’t. And this isn’t some angry-god-teaching-a-lesson or adam-eve-paying-for-eating-the-apple stuff either. If there is some force in this world, It isn’t to manifest Itself through our lives. It cannot, and even if It can, It will not control our world. Hence all the wrong things we see happening with us and around us cannot be attributed to God’s negligence or insensitivity because It has no say in this.
But bad happens, as frequently as good. Often people deserving a reward, at best get nothing and at worst get punished instead. Why? There is no answer, in fact the question itself is invalid. How can there ever be a justification to the misery and pain of an angel? The problem is we think there is some mechanism working behind all this. Some algorithm, some plan, some script governs what happens. And assuming a system in place, we expect it to deliver justice.
And then we think that why is that system unfair? Why did I get pain when I helped someone? Why did that person get what he didn’t deserve? We say the mechanism is flawed, that it favors the evil. The truth is there is no mechanism. It is a jungle. It’s an ungoverned unplanned unjust setup of chaos, where nothing happens “because”. Things just happen. No reason, no logic. So don’t ask “Why?” or even worse “Why me?”. I am not trying to prove the non-existence of God or the futility of faith. That is something for you to decide. I am just trying to warn you from holding your goodness as your reason and excuse to expect justice and fairness.
Its a nice try to understand what is life and how it is and by whom it is governed. I think the answer is “WE”. We are the one who are planing how things will happen and we have to control them.
Just like you took the reins and steered your life in the direction you wanted.
hi anupam..read ur blog…i thought it would state few solutions …but the blog had nothing new to offer…I mean it just stated problems explicitly which are fairly obvious!!
I had read ur previous articles too and those were definitely better than this one…
Hmm.. you are right Antara. Thanks for highlighting this. Even I thought that the ending was a bit abrupt but couldn’t get what was wrong. When I was writing this piece the only thing I had in mind was to warn people from this syndrome. I have seen people accusing that divine force of forsaking them despite their virtues. This good people – bad people, heaven – hell thing is drilled so much into us right from our childhoods that we start expecting good for good and bad for bad. And then when we grow up the splash of cold water of the harsh realities of life wake us up from our slumbers. I really don’t have a clue what to suggest as a solution but I would definitely think about it. Hope you would help me here.
Life is not fair because we expect it to move as we perceive or want.. and when we don’t get that as a kid we want to blame someone except ourselves for its fallacies.. we call it God, destiny, fate, karma and what not..
Human is social animal.. he always needs someone in everything.. to thank, to blame, to feel secure, to love, to forgive… and list goes on.. even a loner needs someone… “mein apni khamoshi se aksar baatein kiya karta hoon…”
I say life is synonymous with expectation.. every move we make every breathe we take.. we expect something to happen so be it good or bad doesn’t matter.. we live by whats taught to us mostly not what we see ourselves.. thus we live in our own protective world where things look laid out and when they change then we get up..
for ex..we see a very good god fearing person die in road accident, we blame the whole world including God.. with a BIG WHY? because it was not in OUR equation of expectations.. we forget our role in same… did we gave that person enough time while we had her.. did we stopped and just gave a hug and said love u anytime.. did we justify our role in that persons life ..then how can we ask for justice in this case.. who r we?
God or the so called system is u urself.. learn to blame urself for ur mistakes and then you wont be in this loop ever..
I recommend reading this poem… Footprints in the sand
So what you want to say is probably we are too caught up in planning our moves and making things happen the way we want.. we should rather learn to let go and make the most of what we get. There is a similar moral in the movie “Kungfu Panda”.. it says.. we will never fulfill our destiny until we let go the illusion of control.. and further.. “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.”
May be we are too rigid to accept things.. and we waste our energy in fighting for this illusive control which we can never have as there are so many factors affecting our lives simultaneously.. were we living in an isolated system this control could have been achieved.. but that clearly is not the case.
But then isnt it that one emotion that makes us human.. desire, dream, expectation.. may be this a poison which keeps us alive.. may be this was the apple that adam and eve ate.. the evil fruit of expectation.. yes this does give us sleepless nights and dreamy days.. but who needs that comfortable cage of satisfaction.. we want to challenge our destiny.. change what comes to us.. make things happen the way we want.. even if we loose our health, sanity and life in the process.. yes there are other factors affecting our lives and inlfuencing our decisions.. but at least one factor is always in our control.. our Will.
The solution probably lies in striking a balance.. by acknowledging that we are not in full control while we chase our dreams with full vigor.. by not fighting it but accepting it as a challenge and working on an action plan. The factors of life might block one path to our destination.. we can always chart a new course.. without all the cursing and blaming and reasoning.. I know this is too easy to put and too difficult to implement.. but what else can be done..? You gotta do what you gotta do.
yes you finally summarized it correctly..life is to move on..face it in front and live to fullest…who knows u will get again or how much time is left…you cant afford to stop..
Yeah.. that’s the right approach.. to just move on persistently in the direction that calls you.. without wasting energy in denial and negation..