The Just World ?

Paul and Julia Ann

Back sometime in the 1960's there was a semi-autobiographical book by Joanne Gramberg with the catchy title, "I Never Promised you a Rose Garden." It was later made into a movie, a play and  eventually a song sung by Lynn Anderson the 1970's: "Rose Garden".

In the past two week, Maureen and I attended the bedside and, unfortunately a few days later, the 'Celebration of Life' for a beautiful niece. It was a very difficult time for all the family, for  her young husband had died recently and now, two university students are left on their own. For some strange reason the words of Lynn Anderson's song kept popping into my head.  None of us have ever been promised a Rose Garden!

Poor old Job of the Bible faced the same conundrum. He apparently suffered a number of misfortunes in life. His friend suggested that perhaps he had done something wrong to deserve such bad luck.

For some reason we like to believe that the world is an unbiased and impartial place. I was told that, "If you work hard, eat right, exercise regularly, your life will be fine." I learned as a young boy, that if I was bad and 'got hit by a truck, I would go to hell'. I think it is wise to have a sense of what you want to achieve in life and the guidelines to get you there. But on the other hand, believing that the world is nonpartisan or neutral place causes us to believe there is a rationale for everything. Have you ever heard someone say, 'You reap what you sow', or 'The chickens come home to roost'. How about, 'What goes around comes around' or the real killer, "I told you so!' In the U.S. 30 Americans fall victim to gun violence every day and an additional 58 people a day kill themselves with guns!(Bloomberg-October 25, 2015) Does that sound like a Rose Garden to you?

The negative side of believing that the world is an orderly, predictable and just place can also lead us to believe that people get what they deserve. The poor deserve their poverty, the raped girl was asking for it, sick people deserve their illness...it's their own damn fault! When we don't know how to deal with tragety in our lives, we often look for something or someone to blame!

There are times when we try to do good and fail. Angus Deaton, who recently won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, is skeptical about foreign aid for example. He pointed out that even the best aid projects may compromise institutions and undermine democracy. It weakens the official organization's will and ability to provide their service and do their jobs properly!

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Perhaps the lesson to be learned from the terrible migrations now taking place in Europe, is that the world inflicts violence, discrimination and poverty whether people deserved it or not. The world is not necessarily a fair place! People suffer without any apparent cause.

To watch a member of your extended family die is no easy experience. We are often attempted to think WHY? But the stark reality is that the world is not the place we want it to be. So we are left to struggle on and to learn once again,  how much we depend on one another to make our life's journey successsful. After all, no body can promise you a Rose Garden.

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week 

Did You Know?

Unfortunately, there is a large group of baby boomers who are reaching 65 who don't have sufficent savings for retirement. What are they going to do? And not only that, many are living longer than previous generations!