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Fairness. Who Told You Life was Supposed to be Fair?

Michelle Mattsen March 22, 2018

Fairness. Who Told You Life was Supposed to be Fair?

I don’t ever recall being told that and I don’t know where it came from. Realistically, is it even possible?

It’s not possible and I’ll tell you why. Everyone has their own version of what is fair.  The bulk of society could agree on what is the fair and equitable distribution of wealth, education and taxes but there will ALWAYS be the rest of the group who disagree.

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder.

Think for a moment if everything were fair. Everyone made the same amount of money regardless of the hours or value they contributed, received the same amount and type of education even though their talent and ambition were elsewhere, could only get a certain type of house with limited amenities and drove the same quality of vehicle. How boring life would be.

How hard would you work and strive for your goals knowing your increased effort would receive the same results as someone who didn’t put in any effort? How fair would that be? What would happen to a person’s drive and ambition? I don’t know. Maybe you could ask someone who’s from a communist country and ask them. I have. My 92-year old mother-in-law remembers it well, bless her soul, and cursed that kind of life. No freedom. She fled Slovenia and ended up in a Romanian Refugee camp for two years before being sponsored to come to America.

Life is unfair for a reason. It gives you something to strive for. It challenges you to become more than what you ever thought you could be. It makes you learn patience, humility, empathy, respect, hope, and love to name a few. It makes you grow as a race, religion, gender – as a person- and ultimately spiritually. That’s what being unfair is all about, growth. I wonder what my mother-in-law’s life would have been like if she had stayed. She probably would have died as her life had been threatened once already for attempting to go to church. Her faith and freedom were challenged that day, but she stood firm and told the officer to shoot. She was going to church. It wasn’t fair.

Unfairness is disguised as a learning experience, take it for what it is and identify the challenge where you need to grow. It could be to learn how to stand up for yourself, how to accept others or even how to face your own beliefs.  Yep. Fairness isn’t necessarily out there but inside.

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Michelle Mattsen

Michelle Mattsen

Michelle Mattsen holds a B.S. in International Business and is a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM). Sh . . . read more

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