Wednesday, January 04, 2006

[transmission start]

thoughts: the (un)fairness of life.

friend: Life's not fair...

chris: wahahahahahahaha! life was NEVER fair.

or so the saying goes. but really. think about it. is life REALLY unfair? perhaps.

why do people say life isn't fair? i've often thought about it. but till my friend brought it up again today i realised that, contrary to popular belief, life is not TOTALLY unfair. so if that's the case why do people think otherwise?

i think by nature human beings are competitive. always wanting to be the best, the smartest, the strongest, the richest etc (you get the idea). having said that, we can't help but compare with one another. and when you compare, not everyone is equal (like how i ain't as smart as some of my friends). but that is the problem. when people they compare, they only compare only ONE or TWO areas (usually the ones where the other person is better). and naturally that makes them unhappy.

but stop there for a moment. let's say you compare the bigger picture. not just grades, or money, or relationships or anything like that. let's say you compare someone else's life to yours. i don't know about you, but i should think that normally speaking for people who are around the same level as you have lives that kind of balance out in terms of 'fairness'. that's why its been said that money isn't everything. i mean, you could compare with someone who's loaded against yourself. but what about the other areas? like for example say his parents are going through a divorce, while you have a happy family. i know it sounds really mean, but yes it does even things out. maybe you would claim that you would give up your family for that kind of money, while he on the other hand might be willing to give up that money for a family that left him a much happier person.

now i'm not saying this will always happen. but the point i'm trying to make here is that sometimes we compare without looking at the bigger picture. and sure maybe the other person may have it better in one area, but would you really want to be in his / her situation (if say it was worse than yours in other areas)? there's a reason why they say the grass looks greener on the other side. and we'll continue to hold that perception for as long as we seek to compare.

so back to the question. is life really unfair? well, i think it isn't. because no one's life is PERFECT (though in some cases it may appear to be as such). and till we know the whole picture... who are we to judge?

till next time...

[transmission end]

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chr1s0ng put the word on the street at 5:40 PM
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