Cause and effect is a natural, universal law; as natural as a leaf floating down from a tree, as universal as night following day. Since causality is a natural law, there is no judge or ruling body that determines our consequences. Neither is there blame or anger.
Simply put, we reap what we sow. The seeds we sowed with our past thoughts, speech, and actions determined our lives today. And just as our lives today were caused by those seeds, what we think, say, and do today will shape our future.
Understanding this, we can more wisely understand our world and those who inhabit it. Those who suffer misfortune as well those who enjoy good fortune are reaping the results of their past thoughts and actions. Lest we think we can dismiss the suffering of others as their own fault, we need to understand that each of us has planted similar seeds. It could just as well have been we who were trapped in poverty or consumed by illness. Just as easily we who watched home and means of livelihood washed out to sea.
Knowing we too have planted the seeds for hardship and suffering what can we do?
We can look around and decide what we want to continue and what we hope to never see again, and then determine the seeds for both. And we can understand that while we may not be able to change everything we wish; it is the right thing to do. We can then work to plant the good seeds as we create the conditions that enable those seeds to flourish and our bad to lie dormant.
By understanding that everything, even a careless word or unkind look, is subject to causality, we can ensure that all our thoughts and actions arise from the wish to behave virtuously and live compassionately.