So you know how not everyone can win a raffle? And so even when you do manage to win that pie at the county fair, it just means that millions of more deserving people out there won’t get to enjoy all that delicious cherry filling? And you don’t really deserve to have that pie because you don’t even appreciate it. Especially, since the only thing you can think of while eating the pie is how much you don’t deserve the pie, instead of feeling grateful for how awesome it is that you get to eat that pie.

That’s some meta shit right there. Anyway, spoiler alert: life is not fair. However, life is like a fair. In that there’s lots of random cool shit to do, but you won’t enjoy any of it if you’re depressed.

Sometimes things are going to happen to you that you don’t think you deserve to have happen to you. These things may be bad, like a small army of remote nanobots invading your bloodstream and detonating inside your skull. These things may be good, like a small army of remote nanobots invading your bloodsteam and then not detonating inside your skull. Still, life is not just about what you deserve, it is about the goals you set for yourself and what resources will help you meet them.

If your goal is just to survive, and you have access to food, water, and shelter: YOU WIN.  If your goal is to be the coolest person on earth, and you died by freezing to death at the bottom of the antarctic ocean: GAME OVER. But you still win. Some people have access to more resources than others, and that gives them a head start when trying to achieve their goals. And so they don’t need to work as hard to achieve the same goal as a person with less resources. However, this does not mean that they should not get to feel good about the work they do accomplish and the goals they do achieve.

This means that you can use the resources at your disposal without feeling guilt, or that you don’t deserve them. This applies to people in the past as well as the present. Just because you can use computers while Hemingway could not, that does not mean you should not feel proud of that Great American Novel you’ve been typing up. And just because you can buy paint at the local grocery store while Picasso had to give up food to afford his, that does not mean you should tear up that masterpiece of yours. Yes you may have privileges and talents that other people were not born with, and yes it is unfair that you can use them to surpass other people who may share your goals. Still, giving up on opportunities does not mean that other people are guaranteed them. And denying yourself fulfillment does not fulfill others.

So yes is unfair that you get a head start on the path to success, or that you are lucky, or this or that. Still, if it bothers you, use those resources to fulfill the goal of guaranteeing other people resources. Instead of feeling like you don’t deserve that cherry pie, eat it gratefully and know all the while that someday you will use your resources to host your own raffle where everyone wins and gets to take home their own pie of whatever flavor they want.