I was thinking this morning about the phrase “Life’s not fair.” I was remembering how angry it used to make me as a child. Not because of the reality of the statement, not at the unfairness of life which I took as a fact that had to be accepted, but by the way in which the phrase was used as a cop-out.

Life’s not fair, I’d be told when I didn’t get my way, or when I was angered by a percieved injustice. I didn’t then have the words or the courage to articulate what so upset me about the statement. It is true in principle. Life is not fair and it is no good cursing life or asking why when things happen which are beyond our control. That kind of unfairness must be accepted and one must move on. This is simply the only way to go on living in this kind of world. That is what the phrase means.

It is not, however, an excuse to keep things unfair where we do have control. The fact that life, or nature, or God is unfair is not license for us to run about committing injustice, or ignoring it when we see it. Just because life isn’t fair does not mean that we shouldn’t be, and it doesn’t mean that we can neglect to work to make it as fair as possible where we can.

This is a message to parents and teachers especially.