Dear Reader,
Do you feel as if your life has been fair? As you’re walking down the street looking at people around you who are living in a very different form of being, do you ever think is their situation fair compared to mine? We have to learn to turn down an advantageous situation in order to establish equality in a system. Would you give up a pot of gold just so you wouldn’t have exponentially more than someone else? I’m trying to think of ways to even things out.
Fairness blows through many other social conventions that have been established in a capitalist system. We’re too often ok with someone receiving less when they’ve lost in a competition. But choices aren’t as freely made as one may think. A lot of pressure, lack of opportunities, and misinformation lead many of us astray and therefore lack in some capacity in our lives. Whether it be financial, social, or cultural these lacks prevent us from moving forward in society and going up the ladder.
How do we balance it all out and make fairness an achievable goal? I think it starts from a young age. Even toddlers will give rewards based on a person’s character, determining what’s fair based on what they’ve perceived. Can we teach what a deservable individual looks like? How do we determine that?
Thinking back to elementary school, I was awarded Student of the Month for almost every month because of some characteristic that I held. One year, I didn’t win and the teacher told me it was to give other students the chance. At the time I was crushed and didn’t understand. I fit all the qualities needed to achieve the award. However, looking back, I see that as a lesson in fairness—distribution and equality.
The topic of fairness makes me think of white privilege—the concept that white individuals receive more benefits and better treatment because of the color of their skin and anti-Black racism in the US. There’s nothing fair about it and ways to redistribute wealth have been greatly debated from affirmative action to reparations. Balancing out the racial divide would provide a fair and equitable society.
There are moves we all can make to be a part of this,
S.E. Dillard