When is life fair? I can think of a lot of times of when it can be. When I fail that test that I didn't study for. When I see my mom help take care of my grandmother. There's also times when it's not fair, when someone gets cancer, when I see the effects my mom's job has on her, when I see someone lose themselves to dementia and how their mind starts to deteriorate.

When is life fair? I believe that life is not typically fair; I do think, however, that death is. Death is always fair, it never discriminates, stereotypes, or has bias. Death takes everyone, mercilessly. But the way we go out is almost always out of our hands. This might make me sound like a pessimist, but I don’t consider myself one; I prefer to think of myself as a paranoid optimist.

When is life unfair? I like to believe that as long as you can even the odds that life can be fair and even kind to you, but that's never always the case. I know it's not fair that my mom is alone in taking care of my Nonna, while her brother's stand to side and just watch. I know that accidents happen and in a split second someone you know can be gone. I know it's out of our control when a person's mind fades before their body does. As the years take a toll on my Nonna's house, they also take a toll on her; they both are left in disarray and disorder.

When is life fair? I'm not sure, I do know however that there are miracles in life, not pronounced ones like parting the sea. I'm talking about the miracles that happen everyday: the infant taking its first breath, the soldier going back home, the patient in remission. I find that the miracles are around us everywhere.

When is life unfair? I believe that it depends on how you look at life. Is it fair to me that I can count on one hand how many times I've seen my grandfather? To know about the chains of his mental sickness that held him down and never let him go? Is it fair that my Nonno slipped in and out of states of mental degradation, with it being out of his control, comforting him and having him know that we cared for him?

But I believe that life is both. Cruel and kind. It gives and takes from us, and we all could learn to love what life has given us a little more. We can all learn to more easily accept the bad things that happen to us.