Is life truly unfair?
Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe falls ten feet from its mother’s womb and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over and tucks its legs under its body. From this position it considers the world for the first time and shakes off the last vestiges of the birthing fluid from its eyes and ears. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its offspring to the reality of life.
In his book A View From the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a newborn giraffe learns its first lesson.
The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over her calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing: She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, sending it sprawling head over heels.
When it doesn’t get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts. Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe does something remarkable. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, leopards, and hunting dogs all enjoy young (isolated) giraffes, and if the mother didn’t teach her calf to get up quickly and get with it, it’d be easy prey.
There’s a common thread that runs through the lives of exceptional people.
They are beaten over the head, knocked down and for years they seems not to be making any progress. But every time they’re knocked down they stand up, they don't remain down and complain about how unfair life is. I once read a story about a man who died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. Realising that the apostle was wise and knowledgeable, he said, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Tell me who was the greatest general of all time?” Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh, that’s a simple question.” He pointed. “It’s that man right over there.”The man said, “You must be mistaken. I knew that man on earth. He was just a common laborer.” “That’s right, my friend,” replied Saint Peter. “But he would have been the greatest general of all time—if he had been a general.”
This kind of person may have lived his whole life complaining about how unfair life is as a laborer due to frustrations and other challenging circumstances that come with being a laborer, when he would have been able to accomplish so much as a general and maybe complained less about how unfair life is. This doesn't mean there may not have been bad days even as a general, but he would have felt more fulfilled, complain less and see life from a brighter perspective.
Isn’t it incredible that so many people devote their whole lives to fields of endeavour that have nothing to do with their special gifts and talents? Yet they keep complaining about how unfair life has been to them, when in fact it is they themselves that have been unfair to themselves. This doesn't mean there are no such people who have ventured into the right career with unfair conditions, but I am strongly of the opinion that such people have less to complain about. For instance a gifted singer who ventures into music and is successful at will also face some life challenges it is inevitable but he/she will be more fulfilled and have less complaint about life's unfair nature over a talented singer who decides to become a farmer.
In summary
There is no one with a perfect life, that is, life without any challenges, and progress in every aspect of life ( finance, family, friends,health, emotions, etc). There is always devil for every level, the earlier we realize this as the reality the better we can face life and be prepared for what is to come next and know that we will not always have things go our way.