Life is hard. Terrible things happen to amazing people, and despicable people can escape their suffering; the world is random. It’s often hard to wrap our heads around the idea that that plane crash or that breakup was not predetermined and is simply the side effect of living life. When these minor and magnanimous tragedies occur, we turn to the trite phrases that reference this ultimate destiny we have no understanding of, yet worship. Whether you believe there is a higher power pulling the strings or that you are your own puppeteer, in times of misfortune, those cliché phrases can save us and give us purpose.
“Everything happens for a reason.” I can’t tell you how many people told me this after I got handed college rejection letters. This, along with, “what’s meant to be will always be,” is the trademark comfort phrase when your dreams are obliterated and you’re left feeling hopeless because when time’s are tough all you want to know is that your life still has meaning. It truly is comforting to think that every action in your life does have a reason greater than yourself. Similarly, “sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together” clouds the air after disappointment. And equivalently, “sometimes good people leave your life to make room for someone even better;” it goes great with a pat on the back and a tub of ice cream post-breakup.
“It’s all going to be OK.” Because when disaster strikes, it’s hard to see the rainbow at the end of the storm, and everyone needs that reminder. Unlike “everything happens for a reason,” this holds that the bad times will cease, rather than assigning them an enigmatic purpose. Analogously, the quote, “There is always a happy ending. If it’s not happy, it’s not the end,” is a more poetic reminder of the rainbows and beaming sun that will fill our sky once again.
And of course, we cannot forget our partner in crime: karma. “Karma will get them.” Karma, the almighty power everyone loves to believe in, is a fundamental belief in a world where people will undoubtedly do you wrong. Even just the little things, like when you’re clearly struggling to carry your shopping bags and the person in front of you doesn’t have the decency hold the door, will suddenly have you rooting for their painful demise courtesy of the Fates.
Despite being trite in nature and contrary to the idea of free will, these clichés are an integral part of accepting and reconciling with the hard times in life. When our lives feel like a series of unfortunate events, all we want to know is that our sadness has purpose, and happiness will rejoin us soon. Skeptical of how much truth we can thrust behind them, we will continue to comfort ourselves and others with these clichés, because, well, they work.
