No, life ISN’T fair (if by “fair” one means that one always gets what one thinks he or she deserves in life). One of my FAVORITE comic strip lines of all time comes from Calvin & Hobbes. I don’t remember the whole strip but at one point I think Calvin’s dad tells him: “Calvin, life isn’t fair.” To which Calvin responds (but I think to himself and maybe Hobbes in the next frame): “Yeah, but why can’t it ever be unfair in my favor?”
The fact is, the world owes you NOTHING. Generally speaking you have to go out and EARN whatever you get AND hope that some weird twist of fate doesn’t deprive you of whatever you’ve got at any given time.
But for the majority of humanity a large enough portion of our lives is within our control to the point that we can still be happy, with care and effort.
In the end life can still be good without worrying about fair.
Life simply is. We are animals, and life is no more or less fair for us than it is for a squirrel or a worm or any other animal. We’ve created a concept of fairness (which is good) but that’s as good as it get.
My wife, who is a wonderful person, suffered for two years with a rare and aggressive cancer while. She lived and the nice guy across the hall in the hospital didn’t. It’s all a giant crap shoot.