I'm trying to figure out the idea that everything is for the best.

Because, well, obviously not everything is for the best. You lose your job, for example. Then you don't have the money for the mortgage. You lose your house. You lose your dreams for a comfortable future.

And then you meet someone who smiles and tells you it's all for the best...

Nothing as horrible as this has happened to me, but every once in a while, when something big or small doesn't go according to plan, I think, What if it's all for the best? And then comes the test: What if something really bad happens--will things still be for the best?

Some people subscribe to a religion that tells them it's all from God. Others believe events happen because they were meant to happen, and it's not in our interest to find a reason on Earth or above.

I think what connects the true believers (religious belief or otherwise), is the idea that if something bad happens to them, that doesn't mean it's bad in the big picture.

That involves a certain amount of humility. If I lose my job, it's not good for me, but it's great for the person who was hired instead. If I lose my house, I might join a great number of people who had lost their houses, and our numbers may move politicians to regulate the mortgage industry.

Not everything is a zero-sum game in the world. Not every loss is someone else's gain. But if I truly believe in the world, then I must take a step back when I look at my own setbacks.