Well Gentle Reader, when did any of us last complain bitterly either aloud or to whomever was unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of our cold, dark whining, that life just isn't fair? Well, hello Sunshine! So, what else is new? And really when has life ever been anything but a very dirty, nasty, rigged game of chance that only those who are strong and smart enough are going to survive and do well and the rest of us can be rendered as fertilizer for their rose gardens? Twice today I found myself muttering this imprecation, life is not fair. I said this while complaining about the bedbugs that still are hanging around in my apartment and the apparent lack of motivation on the part of my building manager to do anything about it. Then I complained about the Kafkaesque bureaucracy (I had to consult Uncle Google because I had forgotten completely how to spell that word) involved in getting a passport. I had been given the wrong form, and I had to go home and fill out the new form and then bring it back and wait in line again. They are not kind.
I explored that theme of life being unfair this afternoon while enjoying a long walk in the wealthy and beautiful neighbourhood, Shaughnessy Heights. I was talking in Spanish on my cell phone to my imaginary friend, Fulano, which I have found to be a particularly effective way of practicing the language of Cervantes. So I talk on and on in my imperfect Spanish. People nearby will think either that I am a native speaker (if they do not speak Spanish) or that I am on the phone with a Hispanic friend. For me it is like keeping a spoken diary but in another language. Today I was talking about the unfairness, the absolute unfair cruelness of life. We are not born into a lovely welcoming Earth where it`s all things bright and beautiful. We are born into a very harsh and bitter struggle to survive and without our human community we are simply not going to cut it.
Life isn`t fair and we, each one of us, has an obligation to do our part to make the world a little less unfair and a little more hospitable for one another and for the rest of the web of life of which we are integral members. Whether through grand and sweeping projects of reform and human development on a massive scale, or through small individual acts of kindness we all have a role to play. Many of us default on this high calling. Sometimes when I hear on the news just how absolutely mean, horrible and evil human beings can be, I want to cry out and hide my head in despair and shame. Tonight on the CBC I heard about this horrible white racist on a streetcar in Toronto berating a couple of black women and when one asked him to stop because he was upsetting her he became even nastier. When a man of colour tried to, in the most civil way, intervene the young white piece of racist shit pepper sprayed him with mace and then the pale little coward ran off the streetcar.
There is so much garbage like this going on these days, especially in the US and in Europe where kneejerk right wing reactionary behaviour is making life an absolute hell for immigrants and people who belong to visible minorities. I am not even going to try to square this horrible darkness with the idea of a loving, just and merciful God. What I am going to suggest Gentle Reader is this: we are the presence of Christ in the world. Our acts of love, mercy, justice and kindness alone are going to make a difference. We need to do more, much more, but every time we perform a loving and kind act we are lighting a candle in the darkness.
Today, a dear friend with whom I had coffee mentioned to me that he has to perform at least one act of kindness for someone every day if he is going to feel right. I would like to second the motion.
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