Why can accidents still happen to people who do many good deeds?

People can still have accidents after doing much good. We discussed news of a charitable person struck while a large Buddha statue was being moved. I thought it might simply have been an accident through lack of care. Tragedy need not immediately invite speculation that Heaven was punishing the person.

Good deeds have meaning without eliminating every danger. Accidents are unexpected events. Misfortune neither invalidates a person’s wish to help nor establishes hidden wrongdoing. Return first to the event itself and notice risks at the scene.

I experienced an accident despite feeling warned, slowing down, and reciting throughout the ride. Before leaving that day, my helmet fell and its visor cracked. Feeling something amiss, I rode especially carefully. Yet while I traveled straight through an intersection, a car suddenly turned right from my left without signaling and hit me.

I genuinely believed then, reciting while riding and hoping for safety. An accident therefore cannot simply mean the person lacked belief or sincerity. Others’ negligence remains a risk even when you are careful.

On another trip to Hualien, a construction hammer fell from above and struck our windshield. The other party later compensated the property damage. Through faith I thought perhaps protection meant only the car was damaged and no pedestrian was struck. But real danger existed. These experiences remind me to remain cautious despite worship. Others’ failure to signal, tiredness, or carelessness cannot all be explained by saying the victim failed to pay attention.

I later adjusted earlier explanations of victimization that focused more on personal fortunes and energy. Seeing large disasters and random violence, I compared it to a bowling ball that grows very large: it can strike beyond its original point of aim. Even caring well for your condition does not remove possible involvement in external danger.

This describes a change in my faith-based observations, not a claim that victims must have something wrong with them. Self-care and alertness remain important, but others’ violence or negligence and large environmental changes also matter. People who made efforts yet faced danger cannot all be called insufficiently happy or sincere.