What we deserve

Don't you find it strange that so many of us love to take credit for things that we shouldn't really attribute to ourselves. I mean, after all, if it is a matter of luck that I have certain talents or predispositions, and, if it is only a matter of luck as to where I happen to be at a particular point in time, then isn't all this talk about what people deserve and how much they deserve a bit stretched?

I, for one, think it is. I'm not against anyone having talent. I think that's a good thing, but I don't see why one talent is "better" or "more desirable" or "worth more" than some other talent. It's not like we have any kind of objective criteria to determine this difference. What is more, because certain talents and attributes are arbitrarily determined to be better, doesn't this necessarily make them unjust? I use the word "arbitrarily" quite consciously. Whatever doesn't conform to some principle or law or maxim or rule or what-have-you is, by definition, arbitrary, just like luck is arbitrary. We never know who's going to have it where or when. So, doesn't it strike you as odd that we should base our society -- or our economy, for that matter -- on something so arbitrary as luck? I do.

Oh, sure, there are lots of you out there who are thinking, "Hey, life's simply unfair, get over it," and while I don't fault you for thinking it, I do fault you for thinking the sentiment makes sense. I would be willing to bet that anyone of you who is thinking right now isn't so bad off as three-quarters of the world's population. You are obviously doing well enough to have internet access and a computer or smartphone. Since you do, I'm going to stick my neck out and figure that you also have a place to live and clothes on your back and enough to eat. That's what makes you different from those other three-quarters of humanity, because they don't have any of those things that you simply take for granted. Why is that? Just because life's unfair? Seems a bit cold-hearted and arbitrary, if you ask me.

All I'm saying is that perhaps we should be a bit more reserved in proclaiming what it is we think we deserve. What have you really done to deserve what you have. You worked hard, I agree, but all those without work hard too, to simply survive. You played by the rules, I agree, but the rules were made easier for you than for them. Part of your advantages is simply due to dumb luck: you were born into a richer society in a particular place at a particular time and used whatever talents you had within the system you happened to be born into as best you could to do the best you could. So did those others, but you still have more and you have it easier. Why? You were lucky, I guess.

Before we start thinking that everybody only gets what he or she deserves, maybe we should ask ourselves just what it means to "deserve" anything at all. It would seem to me that all of us who have enough, or even a bit more, are sitting on a pretty high moral horse.