Fair Or Unfair?

I think Voltaire really tries his best to show how messed up society is. How come the most innocent people have to get punished for something they did not do? If one person makes a mistake others always suffer. For example, on page 94, “’But why should the passengers have perished too? God has punished a scoundrel, but the devil has drowned the rest.’” The captain had stolen Candide’s money and sheep, and then he encountered another ship that began to attack him and the people on his ship. In the end, everyone on that ship had died, so is it fair that everyone suffered because one person?

As I kept reading, there was a part when Martin is talking about the last time he was in Paris. “’I stayed there a short while: soon after I arrived I was robbed of all I had by some pickpockets…and spent eight days in prison on suspicion of being a pickpocket myself.’”(95) If you think about it, the world really does work like that sometimes. You try to do good and make a change, but as a result, you get the complete opposite of what you deserve.

This whole issue about it being fair or not made me think about a real life example, it is exactly like getting hit by a drunk driver. You, the sober and safe driver suddenly get hit by someone who was careless and irresponsible. Your whole life you followed rules, gave back to society and tried to do the right thing. Is it fair that you got hit by someone who just did not care? Does karma really exist or do we try to scare people to do the right thing.