re: #324 Gus 802

Sometimes the best of intentions ends up in the worst of cases. Yes, bad things happen to good people all of the time. Reaping what we sow applies to our own personal farming habits from days long gone. Now, what we “sow” is attached to a multi-layered financial and social system beyond the simple control of individuals.

I often think that the kneejerk opposition some have to various social programs, and the continual emphasis on points like “well they should have known better” (i.e., somehow anticipated and averted some disasters, or made different lifestyle choices) is like warding off the evil eye.
Whole lot of folks are deeply invested (heh) in the notion that nothing terrible could ever happen to them, or would ever happen to them.
Most of us know that unforeseen disasters can happen all the time to the best people who lived a good life.

But some refuse to recognise the random element of luck that attaches either to good fortune or bad in human existence, and want to believe that their own good luck isn’t luck at all, but Providence.
The flip side of that is needing to believe that when people have bad luck, it’s also somehow Providence— punishing them.