I’ve always had a bit of a bee in my bonnet about fairness. I remember many occasions when I felt something hadn’t seemed fair. Times when I was disappointed, angry or upset that there was inequality.
Because I feel very strongly that being fair is about being equal. And treating everybody equally. As a child I watched my mum try to share things out fairly between me and my siblings. It was important as I and they had our eyes pinned to what she was dishing out. All of us seemed to understand that we should all get the same. Of course it didn’t stop my excitement when I felt I had gotten a little bit more than the others. Or a guilty feeling knowing that they had ended up with less. Over all I knew it would balance out somewhere. I wanted it to. Fairness felt much nicer than having more but with the added extra of guilt. Guilt had an edge to it. A ‘not quite rightness’ that was uncomfortable.
Which made me think today about fairness amongst parents. As if I can’t believe that my child would do any wrong. Or the anger I feel when my child is excluded because of some ‘not quite belonging’ imposed by other parents. Not all children get invited to the birthday parties, proms and after school clubs. It’s easy to forget about them. I know just how easy it is. Some school years were tough in our house with a child wondering what was wrong with her. When I knew it was a basic lack of fairness that she had been caught by. I’m also thinking of the way some people seem to be more than one message at a church service. Are the Spirit World blind to fairness too? Or is it that the medium doesn’t refuse to go to someone who has already recieved their share of comfort?
Fairness is an interesting idea. I’m sure it comes from respecting that we are all part of one community. So are therefore entitled to exactly the same as everyone else. I feel our world is a long way from fair. Is it time to praise fairness in the same way we praise amassing vast amounts of money? Or holding onto assets that could be shared with others? I wonder what a fair world would be like?
Day 721 of my blogging challenge