The World Isn’t Your Friend, by Casey Chalk

I confess that I sometimes allow myself to be deceived. When things are going well professionally, when election results go the way I hoped, when I seem to be getting along with everyone I know—I can be disarmed into thinking that I am at peace with the world. Then, like a thunderclap, I’m jolted back to the truth of the matter: the world is not my friend.

I presume most of you have had a similar experience. If you haven’t, just wait. You will. It may not happen this month or year, but at some point, regardless of how much the stars seem to align in your life, there will come a time when you realize that as much as life is beautiful, as much as personal and professional successes pile up, you will inevitably come face-to-face with the unsettling fact that the world is decidedly against you. Just ask St. Claude La Colombière. …