The same reader who had obviously come across my tombstone asked what I think is a great question, “Do you think life is fair?” That question came about because of my first wife’s loss in childbirth and my crippling disability from serving in the military. That question implies that there is something that watches over all of us and directs our life’s path. It reminds me of the story of Job in the Bible.
I answered the question that I think life is neither fair nor unfair. What happens to us is somewhat determined by what we do. For example, we might go on to college and further education, such as being a doctor, which would dictate one life path. However, in that life path, random events will have an effect upon our lives. There are things we cannot control which will influence our life. Think of a car accident – you are on your way to work going through a green light when somebody goes to a red light and hits you. The person probably didn’t do it intentionally. They might’ve had an argument with their significant other, and they are playing that argument over in their mind and not paying attention to the road – distracted driving. Because of a dispute, you are hurt, and your car is damaged. It’s a random event. If you had delayed starting out because you couldn’t find your car keys, the accident would never have happened because you wouldn’t have been at that intersection at that moment.
We can’t avoid all random events in our life. We can be more alert and try to avoid them. We might have seen a car coming too fast in the car accident case and obviously not going to stop, but we did. That avoids the accident. My first wife died because of a “congenital defect of major blood vessel” in her brain. During childbirth, a woman’s blood pressure goes up dramatically, and that caused the defect in the blood vessel to burst. All kinds of events in our life make our blood pressure go up. I was glad that she had the very best care after it, but there was no way she could have lived. I would’ve been devastated to come home from work one day and find her dead. That random defect in genetic coding produced a fatal flaw. It was an unexpected defect that greatly influenced my life, but I could have done nothing to prevent it.
What do you think? Is life fair?
