My Dearest Child,
As you left the house this morning, you screamed out, "Life's NOT fair!" in a final act of frustration and defiance. Your words seem to still hang in the air. I feel them here because they speak to my own feelings of frustration and anger at the news that yet another soldier has been killed from Iowa. That makes three fathers, brothers, husbands and friends that have died in Afghanistan this month alone. And, you're right. Life is not fair.
I would love to allow you to believe that your sense of injustice is simply something of your youth. That it is only something that happens in this home because of the weird rules and expectations of your parents. However, you are already wise enough to realize that this is a part of life. Your fellow students and friends have shown this to you. Yes, kids who cheat don't always get caught. Friends who "haven't done anything" get picked on. Life is not fair.
I would love to tell you that it gets better. That life makes more sense, and therefore it gets easier to make sense of injustice. But, I don't think it does. Good men and women die fighting for our country and yet we get no closer to ending the war. The innocent become victims. The guilty are set free. On this side of Heaven, I find it hard to make any of this fit into my sense of right and wrong. Life is not fair.
However, it is your youth and optimism that I envy. You still crave justice and a desire to have things be fair. You still get angry when it is not fair. And, my child, you want to take action to make things fair. You still have a desire to save the world. Please don't loose that. It is this desire that can make change...and, at least in a small corner of the world (your world) you will make a difference. You will bring about justice for your friends by sharing truth in the face of dishonesty. You will bring comfort to those who have loss. You will affect your world even though life is not fair.
I love you.
Mom
Brian & Tobi
