A basic understanding of a “bad thing” could be considered as an event or occurrence that inflicts pain or discomfort to those involved. A basic description of a “good person” is he or she who is a kind, honest and unselfish and not to mention a pleasure to interact with. There are five main aspects that stand out amongst others when discussing why bad things happen to good people. The first is the Model Case, followed by the Contrary Case, then by the Related Case, and the Invented Case, and last the Borderline Case.
An example of a Model Case of a bad thing is the theft of an individual’s automobile. An example of a Model Case of a good person in this case would be a kind and honest individual who ironically works for an auto insurance company.
An example of a Contrary Case of a bad thing is the theft of an individual’s automobile that has an engine with severe damage and cannot run. An example of a Contrary Case of a good person in this case would be a mean and dishonest individual who steals cars for a living.
An example of a Related Case of a bad thing is the hassle of all the automotive theft procedures that must be undertaken when an individual’s automobile is stolen. An example of a Related Case of a good person in this case would be a kind and honest individual who ironically retrieves and returns stolen automobiles to their respective owners as their daily grind.
An example of an Invented Case of a bad thing is when the victim of an automobile theft replaces their vehicle, and it gets stolen again, and again, to a point where it becomes a trend. An example of an Invented Case of a good person in this case would be an automobile salesman that sells automobiles to the victim each time their previous automobile goes missing.
An example of a Borderline Case of a bad thing is the theft of an individual’s automobile that has an engine with severe damage and can barely run. An example of a Borderline Case of a good person in this case would be a well-intentioned auto mechanic who would like to return the automobile to working order for a price.
This paper has attempted to answer the one of the biggest questions contemplating mankind and that is why bad things happen to good people. The argument that has been pursued was that bad things happen to good people to teach them some kind of life long lesson. To recapitulate, “good people” are those who are kind, honest and unselfish and not to mention a pleasure to interact with and a “bad thing” is considered as an event or occurrence that inflicts pain or discomfort to those involved. Even though the victim of a “bad thing” never likes to hear that it happened to them to teach them a lesson, it does however help others in the sense that as it may directly hurt the victim, but the next victim can use their situation to ease the burden and make their own difficulties easier to bear. It can be assumed that the lesson could be helping each other cope with a “bad thing”
