It seems that whenever something even slightly bad happens, our first instinct is to ask, “Why me? What did I do to deserve this?” But maybe the better question is: why not you?
The world we live in is chaotic, unpredictable, and often cruel. Children are diagnosed with cancer or born with conditions that drastically change the way they experience life. Health enthusiasts—people who do everything “right”—are diagnosed with diseases like diabetes. People are kidnapped, tortured, or lose their lives in absurd, random ways. Someone finally musters the courage to face their deepest fear, only to die in a car crash on the way there. Another person begrudgingly drags themselves to work instead of calling in sick, only to lose a limb—or worse—because of a malfunctioning machine.
Graduates who outperform their peers slip in the shower one day and become someone unrecognizable, unable to think or speak as they once could. Someone meticulously cautious about their severe allergies eats at a restaurant, only for an exhausted chef to make a mistake. One bite later, they’re gone, their throat swelling too fast for anyone to intervene.
Then there are the people who dedicate their lives to others, constantly putting everyone else’s needs and happiness above their own. They go home every night to an empty apartment, where no one ever calls or checks in. Strangers on the street, coworkers, acquaintances—they all seem indifferent, further amplifying the loneliness. When they die, only a few people attend their funeral, giving generic eulogies that could apply to anyone.
Soldiers fight for their country’s freedom, only to return home traumatized, unable to reintegrate into society. They spiral into homelessness and addiction, becoming shadows of who they once were. And then there are those who devote their lives to helping others—abuse victims, the homeless—only to become victims themselves, walking home alone after a night out and encountering the very violence they tried to protect others from.
Foster children grow up without a true home, bouncing between temporary placements until they age out of the system. At 18, they’re left to figure out life alone, with no safety net. Years of rejection and instability leave them angry, traumatized, and lost, often turning to drugs, crime, or both.
Some people work hard all their lives, but their inability to connect socially pushes them toward alcohol or drugs as a crutch. What starts as a way to loosen up spirals into addiction, costing them their career, savings, and relationships. Friends and family who don’t understand addiction pull away, judging them from a distance. The person who was once respected and admired becomes a punchline at parties they’re no longer invited to. The shame and self-loathing become unbearable, fueling the addiction until there’s nothing left.
Wives are beaten to death over imagined offenses. Innocent families are executed by corrupt governments. Girls are sold into sex slavery. Children are forced to grow up too soon because their parents are incapable or unwilling to care for them. People are bullied, excluded, or beaten for things they have no control over—how they look, how they dress, where they come from.
Life savings vanish because of a dishonest business partner. People spend their entire lives in debt, dying before they ever truly get to live. Someone falls while rock climbing and dies. Someone else is pushed off a balcony by a person they trusted. A random bullet ends one life and paralyzes another. Accidents involving cars, trains, or even stray objects alter lives forever.
People love deeply, giving their entire hearts to someone, only to wake up one morning to a note saying that person is gone. Someone falls off a skateboard and dies; another takes a punch the wrong way and doesn’t survive. Depression claims countless lives because, for some, the weight of living is heavier than the fear of death.
So, why not you? Why should you be exempt from the randomness of it all?
Do you think any of these people woke up and thought, “Today is the day my life changes forever—or ends”? Of course not. They were just like you—main characters in their own stories, with plans, hopes, and ambitions.
Maybe there’s some meaning behind the chaos, lessons for us or those around us. Or maybe there’s no reason at all—just random, meaningless events in a world that doesn’t care. Either way, what happens to us becomes part of our story, another chapter in the book of our lives.
We all have a story. The question is: will you use yours as an excuse to give up or as fuel to keep going?
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