“JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS”
Marco Orlando
None of us ever ask to be born. None of us ever ask to have a disability. But here we are, still determined to make something of ourselves no matter how many times life throws us a curveball. From the very beginning, we all grow up thinking there’s some semblance of justice and fairness in our society and in this world. Then something happens along the way and we realize that while the system currently in place was founded with good intentions, it is also not without its flaws, and there are plenty. Too many of us fall through the cracks when we seek out the help that we need to in order to survive the human experience we all call life. Sadly, this experience is more common than you think.
Like many of you, I grew up with a sense of what was right and what was wrong in this world, and I was determined to make meaningful lasting connections with the rest of the world around me. Even so, I had to learn the hard way at an early age that the world is not always on my side, that not everything in life will always be fair and just. I could do everything right and still somehow get it all very wrong, and it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. Sometimes that’s just how things go, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
It’s a raw kind of hurt when you realize that the system in place to help people like us lets too many of us down at seemingly the worst possible times and justice does not always prevail as it should. But the reality of the situation is this: Life isn’t always fair. The world isn’t always fair. Bad guys can be rewarded for being bad guys, while good guys can be punished for being good guys. Honesty can be a rotten policy. And sometimes, having ethics and standards can get someone screwed over worse than not having any does. It’s almost as if everything we were all taught when we were young turned out to be a bunch of lies.
It’s normal to ask why bad things happen to good people, especially to us or to anyone else we care about. It’s normal for us to want justice for them, to want justice for ourselves, even if only for purely selfish reasons. After all, actions have consequences. I would like to think that good eventually prevails over evil in this world, even if things don’t always look that way. But sometimes, the system doesn’t always work in our favor, and many of us struggle to come to terms with that. It’s important for us to remember that while the system has its flaws, those who work within the system are only human, and so are we, even if we don’t always feel that way.
Even though bad things will still happen to good people in this world, it’s still good for us to be honest, and it’s still good for us to have ethics and standards. I’ll admit I’ve been tempted many times to take matters into my own hands and deliver my own unique brand of vigilante justice when the system had failed me. But I realize now that it’s not really my place to try to do the job that karma will do itself in due time. It’s better for me to go about my business and keep doing what I’m already doing. Sometimes, the best revenge is not so much a dish served cold, but rather, a life lived well.
If you are self advocate and would like to share a blog post with us please email Laurie Coldwell at lcoldwell@sufumaine.org
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