I think that as people we want justice. We want things to be fair. We want equality. Even the youngest of children get upset when things "aren't fair". Words like "he got more than I did" and "he got to stay up later than I did" were common to hear in my family.
Now there was a reason for that : My two sons are different ages, have different personalities, different strengths, and different challenges. If I treat them "equal" that means I'm not taking their individuality in account. Is that fair?
Where I live there is a big push to try and make things more equitable. Men and women should be paid an equal wage. Young and old should have equal rights to a job. LGBTQ+ should have equal say and rights as the more traditional straight / binary. In theory is sounds like a great idea : Equal pay for equal work. Equal rights for all. In theory I'm all for things being equitable and fair.
However, it is easy to go too far.
This is Easter weekend and easter egg hunts are very popular with familiar and children. They are great! The church or other groups get a bunch of chocolate easter eggs and hide them around a secure location (park, farm, etc) and then the children get to go hunt them down. What child doesn't like doing a treasure hunt in a secure environment? My young nieces and nephews are no exception and they got to hunt easter eggs this year.
Except this year an attempt was made to make it more equitable which made me a little sad. Sure there were easter eggs to hunt down but they were empty plastic eggs. When the child was tired of hunting they returned the plastic easter eggs and were given a small basket of chocolates. Whether the child collected one plastic egg or a hundred each child got the same amount of chocolate.
Where is the thrill of the hunt in that? Just find one egg and your done. There is no challenge. There is no rewards for hard work. Everyone gets the same rewards basically for showing up.
The same mentality has also shown up at the children's sports events. In a race all the children from fastest to slowest get a ribbon. There are no winners and there are no losers. Everyone who shows up gets the same prize. Again, there is no reward for hard work or athleticism.
Sure everyone gets an equal reward but how is that fair to the children who put in the hard work??
More importantly than not teaching children the value of hard work they miss out on an even more important lesson : "Life is inherently unfair".
Not every person has the personality to make a million followers on Youtube.
Not every person has the intelligence or drive to succeed in University.
Not every person is going to be successful in finding a match on Tinder or other dating app.
Not every person is born into a loving family...and not every person is born into an affluent country where all their needs are met.
Life isn't fair and I wouldn't trust anyone who says that it is or that it should be
When I first saw the #hivelearners prompt about "It was just unfair" it took me a minute to think of a specific instance where things were just unfair. Then I thought about it and examples kept coming over and over. Then I started to think about what exactly does "unfair" mean. Does it mean unjust or inequitable? What is the difference anyway?
So, I came up with two different examples :
If you have read any of my articles you know I'm a pharmacist. Not a manager but just the educated guy in the white jacket who gives out medication. One day in the pharmacy I received word that someone decided to use the urinal in the public washroom as a toilet and there was a "toilet trout" that needed to be fished out.
None of the frontline staff would clean up the mess. We had no janitor for another 12hrs to clean up the mess. Guess what happens? As a pharmacist I'm ultimately responsible for the pharmacy operations. I'm not hired to clean disgusting messes in the washroom. I didn't study at university for safe turd removal. However, someone had to do it and I got the short end of the stick.
I think that's a fair example of inequality.
More recently my contractor told me that my home was finished. I was excited! I had signed a contract to have a home build for $85,000 (with a few allowances). We laid out what was to be built. How much was to be paid. When payment was due. All the things to make sure that everyone knew what was expected.
Then the day came that I was supposed to take possession of the home. The plumbing wasn't finished. The quality was not what I expected. The electrical wasn't finished. There was no heating or cooling. On top of all that they wanted payment of $126,000 instead of the agreed upon $85,000.
Image is mine. Does this look finished to you?
We had a legal agreement. We had an understanding and one side just decided to change everything!
I didn't think of it as inequality but more unjust behavior.
But I think both of them were "Unfair" behavior. In the first why should I have to do an awful job just because I'm the most educated? In the second why should I be expected to pay more and get less than was agreed upon? Very different but both unfair in my book.
However, rather than focus on those instances of unfair behavior I'd prefer to focus on the one that people rarely mention but I think it is really important.
In the #earnspendgive community I heard recently that 
More importantly he is in a country and financial situation where his $2.50 HBD worth of coin was needed to cover an emergency! That made me very sad.
Another community member 
....and I hear this while I'm going on a vacation on a cruise ship.
(Image of a giant line of food taken on my last cruise)
My son eats #50,000 Naira worth of food in a single sitting at taco bell. My wife and I get all the food, entertainment and luxury of a cruise to the Bahamas while my friends on Hive fight to get by.
There is no fairness in that situation. However, almost all the time the person enjoying the luxury would never even spare a moments thought into how unfair that situation is. They get a luxurious cruise while others starve.
Images of food just being thrown away like this were commonplace and really irritated me.
There is no justice in this world.
As a Christian the Bible makes no illusions that this world is fair. It mentions a blind man who did nothing wrong other than he was born that way. It mentions a poor widow giving pennies while rich people gives fortunes. It mentions teachers who have great fortune and respect while there are lepers who aren't even allowed to live in the town with others.
Even in one famous parable (Matthew 25:14-30) of the talents it straight up mentions that a Lord gave different talents to different people. One for 5, one got 2 and the third got only 1. Right from the start there is inequality. It doesn't go with "each person got the same and some used it wisely", nope, it starts with everyone got different amounts! Inequality!
But there is a catch!
The person who was given the most was also the person who had the most expected from him! The person given 5 was expected to generate more return more. The person given 2 had less expected from him. I guess that's another inequality right there...the more talented have more expected from them.
And there is another thing I find comfort from in the Bible.
God balances all scales in the end
Now usually I wouldn't want to bring faith into a Hive Learners discussion. In this I thought it was warranted. For two reasons:
When I'm on the cruise enjoying the luxury of having been given more....it also forces me to remember that I also have more expected from me.
When I'm dealing with a difficult legal situation in which I'm being taken advantage of it gives me great comfort. I was truly upset about having our agreement dishonored. My wife was incredibly angry about being taken advantage of. In the end I had to think long and hard about what I was going to do. On the one side being mistreated is unfair and I should fight for fairness. On the other side fighting for justice takes time, money and energy.
Knowing that God settles all accounts in the end makes it much harder to "let it go" in an unfair situation. I can accept that things didn't go in my favor. I can accept that I'm going to pay too much and get too little. Why? Because I know the scales will balance in the end and its not my job to pursue justice.
It is my job to pursue Love and Peace (along with other virtues). Of course I tried to negotiate something more fair than what was originally presented. I needed to fight for the sake of my children and wife. I needed to fight to show that I wasn't going to roll over and take this injustice. However, I didn't have to fight too hard as I knew in the end everything would balance out. Somehow and in someway....even if I don't know all the details right now.
One final thought.
I'm quite certain that everyone who writes on this HiveLearners post will be able to find a way in which they were treated unfairly. It is so common I can't see how anyone could say they have always been treated fairly!
And that's the irony. The ultimate fairness in this world is that EVERYONE is treated unfairly.
Just a thought
....and as always I would love to hear your comments 😁
