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Saturday, September 20, 2008

it's just not fair

I had the opportunity to see something really cool. A miracle of sorts. It was humbling and touching in so many ways. I almost cried, which is kind of a big deal for me. 

but in the midst of it all, I realized that life isn't fair. now that's something that is sort of ingrained in you (well, it was in me...) your whole life. people say things like "finish your kidney beans, there are starving kids in China." which is true. and people always talk about how just from being born in the US we're part of the wealthiest part of the population. which is also true. but i don't think the unfairness of life hit me until this very moment. 

more than the country we're born into, how much money our parent/guardian's have, where we go to school, life is just plain unfair. We have different parents that bring us up uniquely. Some don't have parents. Some have aunts and uncles or stepdads or grandmas. Some have lots. Some have nothing. Some have "everything." the love we feel isn't the same. now this is definitely obvious, but even within our country the range of living people have is phenomenal. 

I don't think there is anything anyone could ever do to make anything fair. There is always going to be something that's different. Always. it's weird to realize. 

people you think that have less maybe have more than you in other ways. but it's really hard when you see situations that you know are unfair and leave a person disadvantaged. What do you do with that? Even with things that are good and right that try to make things "even" like giving money to feed children, you're still not making things fair. 

Is fairness even something we should want? i'm probably keeping a really wide definition of fair in my overly tired state of mind, but this is definitely something i'm thinking through and wrestling about what I can do. I would love feedback/discussion about this because it isn't something I'm gonna work through on my own...

3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Hey, I forgot you had a blog, but I'm so glad I rediscovered you. Sorry, my brains aren't awake enough to comment on world fairness, but maybe tomorrow in the shower, I'll actually do some thinking about it.
Maybe we should distinguish between equality & fairness. Fairness can exist without absolute equality, don't you think?

Seth said...

First of all, you have multiple grammatical errors in your blog.

Secondly, you pose an interesting question. When reading your blog I was reminded of different passages from Matthew where Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven. I'd have to find specific examples but some answers might be there.

Jesse Allen said...

What exactly is fair? If fair is equal portions of suffering for all, I'm not sure I want that. I would rather think about justice. Justice is things becoming the way they are supposed to be. God is pretty clear about justice.

"But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!" - Amos 5:24