Unfairness and Inequality

We all have depression, which is no respecter of persons, although the intensity of the disorder may vary significantly.

One of the main triggers of human depression is a feeling of unfairness and inequality that may stem from our perceptions and comparisons with others. This trigger raises many internal questions that we often ask when we are alone by ourselves: “I am smarter than my brother, but why is he having a better destiny than mine?”; “My daughter is the prettiest among all her friends, but why is it that she doesn’t even have a boyfriend?”; “My father is a very nice person, but why is everyone taking advantage of him?”; “My former neighbor stole money from the company he used to work with, and now he is the CEO of this big corporate company, where is the justice?”

Don’t we all have many similar questions unanswered? If we continue to look for answers to those unanswerable questions, we would only succumb ourselves to depression. In life, there are many questions we may never have an answer simply because of the following:

We are limited in our knowledge, and we always see only one side of everything. 

Our perceptions are inaccurate because we all have too many assumptive resumptions.

We are finite: we see only the present and, at most, the near future. The Creator is infinite, and to Him everything is timeless. 

But many of us still demand some sort of answers to satisfy our desire for fairness and equality, not to mention justice. In life, there are many questions which may never have an answer. But in TAO the wisdom of the ancient Chinese sage, Lao Tzu, the answer is always deep within us.



Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau