The Beauty of Grace

"Life's not fair."

This was my father's mantra growing up whenever we kids would complain about not getting treated fairly.  I'm embarassed to admit he had to remind us of this a lot.  I would like to talk a little bit on the subject of "fairness."

Right now I am reading a book by Ayn Rand titled Atlas Shrugged.  (On my Kindle, of course. yay!)  I'm only 35% through with it (which is incredible because I have been reading non-stop for like two days,)  but so far it is very interesting.  The America in which the book is set is becoming increasingly socialistic, under the guise of "fairness."  It's ridiculous.  They pass an "Equalization of Opportunity Bill" which states that one person can only be involved  in one type of business, to allow all the other people without work get a chance at owning a business, because its not fair that some people own two or more enterprises and others none.  The problem is that those people are all totally incompetent, so when it passes, nothing productive gets done.  There are other various laws that are completely ludicrous, all passed in the name of "fairness" and "equality," which are ending up leading to business failure all over the nation and poverty in areas that were once extremely successful.  My favorite example of this idea of "fairness"  is embodied in a woman's (failed) idea of a payroll when she and her brothers took over their father's factory:

"Our plan? We put into practice that noble historical precept: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.  [This sounds fair, right?  Well, keep reading.]  Everybody in the factory, from charwoman to presdient, received the same salary - the barest minimum necessary.  Twice a year, we all gathered in a mass meeting, where every person presented his claim for what he believed to be his needs.  We voted on every claim, and the will of the majority established every person's need and every person's ability.  The income of the factory was distributed accordingly.  Rewards were based on need, and penalties on ability.  Those whose needs were voted to be the greatest, received the most.  Those who had not produced as much as the vote said they could, were fined and had to pay the fines by working overtime without pay.  That was our plan."

BAH!  Oh my goodness, it makes my hair stand on end just thinking about this warped view of "fairness."  Sorry folks, but life doesn't work like that... you don't just get money or any sort of basic human desire because you want or need it.  You have to work for it... but even then, life is still not fair and sometimes no matter how hard you work you get screwed over.  And that is the point of Atlas Shrugged so far.  The main characters are working their tails off, doing everything they possibly can to make a successful life for themselves and their business, but the world seems to be working against them purposefully, for the sake of seeing them fail.  The idea of fairness in this society is juxtaposed with the reality of unfairness.

However, there is another side to this whole "fairness" thought.  Let me explain.  I was vacuming the C-hall of 1M in the MTC a few days ago, listening to one of my favorite uplifting bands: Relient K.  The song "Be My Escape" came on, and I was struck by this particular line: 

 "The beauty of grace is it makes life not fair." 

It got me thinking about all of this.  Yeah, life isn't fair.  Sometimes the hard workers get penalized.  Sometimes the lazy bums get rewarded.  Sometimes you go through heartache and everyone around you seems to be on top of the world.  My dad was right, life isn't fair.  BUT, THANK GOODNESS! 

Imagine if the only law we lived was justice, and there was no mercy in the world?  We could never repent, we could never forgive, we could never show kindness, or compassion, or even love; these acts of charity would be void, because any act of goodwill would only occur if deserved.  All the savor and vivacity of life would leave, our exisistence would be boiled down to mere calculations of who deserves what, and thats about it.  Grace is what gives our world color, life, and hope.  More specifically, Christ and his atoning sacrifice are what make life not fair; they allow forgiveness and change and growth and agency... all of which make for an unequal and unfair world.  But here, "unequal" and "unfair" have very good connotations.  Through grace, we receive power and abilities that we did not earn; they are given to us "unfairly."   Through grace, we are saved after all that we can do; again, "unfairly."

So yes, Dad, life's not fair.  But from now on, my reply is, "Thank goodness!"