4 ms·
I remember the first time I worked out that life's not fair. There's no over-arching justice to ensure that just because someone beats be at one thing they won'
by RiderOfGiraffes 16y ago
I remember the first time I worked out that life's not fair. There's no over-arching justice to ensure that just because someone beats be at one thing they won't beat me at another. Nature as a whole has no sense of fair play. The best you can do is get on with life.
Having said that, if you treat people well you often find that their sense of fair play gives you a safety net.
But always remember:
"Life is pain, highness. Anyone who tells you
differently is selling something."
— William Goldman (The Princess Bride)
ADDED IN EDIT: I've just been checking - although the line is in the film, it's not in the book.
- gaius 16y ago"Fair" is "if you don't work you don't eat" but that isn't what people actually want...
- thalur 16y agoIs that "fair"?, or is that what those who worked all their lives want everyone to believe in order to justify themselves having worked all their lives? Just a thought, not an opinion.
- sp332 16y agoI don't think that makes sense. Maybe "If you don't work you get to eat anyway" is what those who sat on their fat asses all day want everyone to believe to justify sitting on their asses all day.
- redorb 16y agoI know many skiny lazy people; We can debate without slandering... I think "Working your whole life" and "not working and taking it easy your whole life" are both choices with consequences.. not choices necessarily between right and wrong in the big picture. Perhaps right and wrong in your head but not universally.
- cema 16y agoFair is more complicated. Mercy is part of fair. And, of course, treating our young and old in a different way than healthy adults is fair.
- gaius 16y agoMercy is an exemption from fair. Sometimes mercy is right, true. But as often, mercy to one is "unfair" to another.
- Tichy 16y agoSo it is fair if some people are born as slaves and some as masters? Or how is your statement to be interpreted? It could mean that somebody earning fuck you money is not fair, because then that person would not have to work to eat anymore.
- gaius 16y agoNot sure how you extrapolated that! But it is true that if the average person does not create more wealth than they consume, your society is eating its seed corn. Why shouldn't there be a requirement that everyone pulls their weight? The modern-day leftie has forgotten that Marx also said from each according to his ability.
- Alex3917 16y agoFair is an agreement between two people who like each other. Of course life isn't fair, but it's not unfair either. The function just won't evaluate with life as an argument.
- Zolt 16y agoGiraffe Rider, I have always said “life is not fair” but recently have come to believe and accept it. A 36 year old friend was an innocent victim of an automobile accident seven weeks ago. He is still unable to communicate and move. A respectable individual with a wife and three young girls. Another "young" (42) neighbor of mine, father with three kids. Cancer came back of out remission and a recent bone marrow transplant failed. >The best you can do is get on with life. Agreed. Part of being born is dying. We need to accept our fate, make the best of it and move on. I now have a much deeper appreciation of my good health (and most of my family members around me). I don’t take it for granted any more.
- klenwell 16y agoI've always found consolation in a line from one of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales: "Injustice has parcelled out the world, nor is there equal division of aught save of sorrow."