This question was posed to me by a spiritual website. I don't know what prompted the site to raise such a hypothetical question. But certainly it instigated something in me to create this blog. But the question is: do really bad things happen to good people? I am not very sure. To me good and bad are very relative terms. The thing which is good for me may be bad for somebody else and vice versa. Things do happen. But whether the happening is good or bad it all depends on the perception of the individual concerned. If a thing happens as per my wish or expectation then I consider it as good. But if it is the other way round I consider it as bad. And as far as I am concerned I never consider myself to be in the category of BAD people. So whenever something happens which is against my (a good man's) wish/expectation I say a bad thing has happened to me.
In similar terms our Society brands people as good or bad depending on whether the person concerned is within the moral boundary imposed by it, whether the person adheres to the unwritten norms created by it from time to time. For example nowhere it is written that drinking alcohol will make somebody bad. But a person who drinks regularly is not considered as a good man by the society at large and is literally ostracized. Now if this man meets with an accident the society does not sympathize with him and in a sense enjoys his misfortune. But if a good person (read who does not drink) meets with a similar accident the society feels sorry for him.
Now the same happening(Accident) is having different implications.
I am really confused whether a good thing happened to a bad person or a bad thing happened to a good person ?
To conclude since good and bad are absolutely relative terms there is no point in brooding over why bad things happen to good people. Let's live life happily without putting too much seriousness into it. Things are destined to happen and we hardly have any control over them. Let's accept things as they come and be happy.
To quote a few line from a famous book of Dale Carnegie:
" O God ! Give me the serenity
To Accept Things as they come
To Change the things that I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference."
Any difference of opinion? Please speak out.
In similar terms our Society brands people as good or bad depending on whether the person concerned is within the moral boundary imposed by it, whether the person adheres to the unwritten norms created by it from time to time. For example nowhere it is written that drinking alcohol will make somebody bad. But a person who drinks regularly is not considered as a good man by the society at large and is literally ostracized. Now if this man meets with an accident the society does not sympathize with him and in a sense enjoys his misfortune. But if a good person (read who does not drink) meets with a similar accident the society feels sorry for him.
Now the same happening(Accident) is having different implications.
I am really confused whether a good thing happened to a bad person or a bad thing happened to a good person ?
To conclude since good and bad are absolutely relative terms there is no point in brooding over why bad things happen to good people. Let's live life happily without putting too much seriousness into it. Things are destined to happen and we hardly have any control over them. Let's accept things as they come and be happy.
To quote a few line from a famous book of Dale Carnegie:
" O God ! Give me the serenity
To Accept Things as they come
To Change the things that I can
And the Wisdom to know the difference."
Any difference of opinion? Please speak out.
Like you said, it is perception eventually. It is always how we wish to see it. Anything that happens to you can be good or bad depending on what you extract from the experience. If you look at the up side of it, you won't look at it as bad but as a learning opportunity. If you crib and complain, well...we know what that is then.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandy for visiting my blog and commenting on the post. An old adage says:"Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder". It is the perception of the individual that makes the event good or bad for him/her. If only we can understand this truth!!!
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