--- title: Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Ruby's aunt was kind and helped everyone, and she died of cancer at 40, while Kai's grumpy grandad lived to 95; R --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Is it fair? Why bad things happen to g… # Is it fair? Why bad things happen to good people Lesson 75 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 14 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/0/) — Ruby's aunt was kind and helped everyone, and she died of cancer at 40, while Kai's grumpy grandad lived to 95; Ruby says «It's not fair», and she is right: how long someone lives is not a score for being good, but depends on health, chance and many things nobody controls. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/2/) — The Bible does not hide the question: in the book of Job a good man loses everything, his friends say it must be his fault, God says the friends are wrong, and Job meets God without getting a simple answer; Jesus also said a man born blind was not being punished for anyone's sin. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/4/) — Christians remember that Jesus himself cried on the cross, «My God, why have you forsaken me?», so doubt and anger can sit inside faith, and people of every belief can turn anger at unfairness into helping, as when Christians care for orphans. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/5/) — For a child today this means: you may say «it's not fair», ask hard questions without being afraid, and look for what you can do to help. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/6/) — How long someone lives is not a reward or a punishment; it depends on health, chance and many things nobody controls. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/7/) — Sometimes very good people die young, and nobody fully understands why. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/9/) — Many Christians answer that God gave people free will, and people sometimes choose to hurt each other, for example in wars. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/10/) — Christians do not believe illness or death is a punishment for being bad; Jesus said a man born blind was not being punished for anyone's sin. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/11/) — In the book of Job, a good man loses everything; his friends blame him, God says they are wrong, and Job gets no simple answer. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/12/) — Some babies are born with illnesses that doctors cannot cure; it is very sad and nobody's fault. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/13/) — Some people believe God has a plan and brings good out of bad; others believe some things just happen; people disagree. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/14/) — Some philosophers say life may have no given reason and we make our own meaning; humanists say meaning comes from how we live and love. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/16/) — The Bible tells Christians to «look after orphans and widows», and many faiths run charities for children without parents. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/75-is-it-fair-why-bad-things-happen-to-good-people/17/) — Feeling angry about unfairness is natural, and that anger can lead people to help others or change things. - ← previous: [Souls, ghosts and stories](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/74-souls-ghosts-and-stories/) - next →: [Living well because life is short](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/76-living-well-because-life-is-short/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)