Repeat: Fate and Fairness
I am not writing my blog right now because I realized mid-August that it felt like a burden instead of a release. I am too sad, navigating the twins leaving for college. I scheduled these posts that day so the blog wouldn’t be empty, but I could pull back and use the time left with the twins. A cop-out, but forgive me. Having them go is really, really hard. I need mental space to feel what I am feeling, help the kids through the transition, and sit in the quiet for a moment on the other side.
I decided to read her my favourite post by Susan Niebur, Toddler Planet, who died a few years back. I bookmarked this post and return to it often because it is probably the most profound, important thing I have ever read on the Internet. A big claim, yes, but I think if you read the whole post, you’ll agree.
She explains with a story:
Life is given to each of us. We each get one shot at this sucker, and we are never really told that it will be fair. We each get one life, one daily wage, and that’s it. The guy next door gets one life to live. The mom down the street gets one too. No one ever promised us the same life, the same opportunities, the same blessings, or the same time to live.
If we look at it that way, we are all treated fairly by the universe. Even when it doesn’t feel as if we are being treated fairly by the universe. Can we really argue? I mean, we’re given exactly what we were promised: A single life. And what we do with that life, and the circumstances that we encounter while living it, are both in and out of our hands.
