The letter came from a college senior working as a student counselor in a dormitory at a distant university. "Dear Mom," she began. "During my growing up years, few things irritated me as much as your attempts to quiet my righteous indignation by telling me that life is not fair. I swore I would never say that to my children. However, in my work with distressed college students, I find myself telling them the same thing. I still rail at life's inherent injustices, but I have learned I had best accept that unexpected and unwanted things happen. Life simply is not fair. Thanks for the advice I did not care to hear."

How universal this painful ordeal of learning that the world doesn't operate according to what we believe is fair. It happens to all of us and it has always been that way. This mo…