PARADOXICAL

Life is not fair, they always say. But no, I believe that in the end, life is fair. And I’m not being eschatological here.

Why is someone like Angelito Nayan being held hostage by Islamist rebels in Afghanistan? Why is someone like this person has that disease? Why do people known to be good get struck by tragedies nonetheless?

It’s unfair at first glance, but no, I say everything is only fair. Everything happens for a reason, and it may not be the one we think.

The key is expanding our view of the picture - not in the way that only God can see everything, but by exerting an effort to see beyond what’s apparent. Then our view of the world changes drastically.

Imagine ourselves as spirits unfettered by the boundaries of time and geography. Imagine ourselves as spirits looking back, unreeling, as it were, a filmic record of our familial histories, and things suddenly become clearer. If only we could add up the things our ancestors did to the whole picture, we might see why, but, well, we can try.

We might see people committing mistakes or doing good, and thereby cursing or blessing their descendants for it respectively. We might see curses and bondages being heaped upon the innocent, and blessings and favors bestowed on the seemingly sinful, just as we see worse bondages and more punishments on the already accursed or punished, and more blessings and favors to those who already have these in surplus.

We might begin to understand why a certain tendency or weakness happens in people who never ask for it or even decide against it. We might begin to see why certain people are bound to carry the balance of other people’s debts for their whole lives while others seem to have it so easy. We might begin to see why certain diseases and types of death and misfortunes afflict entire families and generations of the same clan, with the same regularity. That clan may have someone cursing the innocent souls yet to be born in their family line by committing some terrible trespass on someone, like cursing and not forgiving someone who had done him or her some wrong.


The good thing is, life is not a cul-de-sac or a blind alley. There is a way out, or a way in. It’s eventually up to us, how each of us responds or decides on the matter of our present ‘fate.’ That is the only ‘freedom’ that matters in life, the freedom to choose freedom from the oppression of both generational and personal sins.

We can decide to continue cursing ourselves and our children to a never-ending pain and imprisonment. Or we can decide to ask to be set free. We can decide to let go, to forgive everyone who had caused or has caused offense down the line and, the harder part, to ask forgiveness on behalf of those who have failed to do so. We can decide to reject what is evil.

We have the choice to plead for the remission of sin, for plenary indulgence, for favors and absolutions, pleas and petitions totally unmerited but readily available if we but ask, if we but work a little, if we but believe. We have the choice of turning all our crosses into crown, our pains into joy. This is basically the good news of the resurrection, the freedom from oppression from our self-imposed curses and guilt. In the end, everything will be fair. If you missed that, nothing else, no other great news, follows.

posted by Resty Odon  # 1:01 AM