We judge ourselves by our best intentions. Deviating from this behavior is often attributed to an external factor beyond our control. Being on the defense serves our moral compass and sense of fairness. This brings a rather disturbing realization. We are all victims of our environment. Our relationships are just a chain reaction to each other's defensive stance.
Many do not fancy the idea of randomness for it removes responsibility. Some simple facts in our society though should convince even the toughest of skeptics. The vast majority of inmates come from poor and broken homes. Many inmates have attempted suicide, have harmed themselves or have been subject to abuse. Nothing is set in stone but a child that is brought up into such an environment has greater propensity to be rejected. Being born in a family is not a choice.
The West has pretty much being imperialistic for the longest part of recent history. We have devastated and enriched many of the countries that we see around us. We claim to be civilized but we produce the means of war more than any other countries that we call "uncivilized".
When we see so many people fleeing in our countries either as refugees or as economic immigrants we shouldn't be surprised. They have been working their asses off for pennies on the dollar for their entire lives. Seeing from TV how comfy we are certainly has made them more opportunist. After all they have been randomly born in a shitty country. They want what we have. We would be feeling much the same way in their position
A series of unfortunate events can turns ones life into shit in the same way a series of fortunate events does. When we drive our car to work in the morning we don't control the traffic or the drunk drivers. When we make applications for a job we don't control the whims and tastes of the Human Resources personnel. When we walk into a bar with friends and sit on a random table that has a specific view to a particular individual that we later marry, we also don't control any of those events.
We do chose to be careful in traffic and be as good as possible in writing that job application or approaching the girl of our dreams. Nonetheless, the stage and the players upon which everything is played out remains beyond our reach.
Randomness shows us that we are all pawns in a board game that we do not know neither our position or the rules. Much like Plato's cave, our event horizon is rather short. We can make out shades moving in a distance but never the actual thing. This realization alone should make us all more understanding towards each other. We are all trying to make it in a game that is innately unfair and unpredictable
