Don't Assume People Get What They Deserve

It's tempting to believe the world is basically fair — that hard work is rewarded, carelessness is punished, and misfortune only happens to people who somehow invited it. This belief feels comforting because it implies you're safe as long as you're careful and good. But it also quietly blames victims for things that were never their fault: the layoff, the illness, the accident, the scam.

Next time you catch yourself thinking "well, they probably did something to cause it," pause. Sometimes bad things simply happen to people who did nothing wrong — and believing otherwise says more about your need for safety than about them.