That's Not Fair!

“That’s not fair”. How often haven’t we heard these words. When I hear them, my mind produces an image of a play ground upon which a number of children are playing, and upon hearing these words, my head turns a little to either the right or left, and find that my gaze is resting upon a little boy who is quite upset with the way that things are going. Now, it really doesn’t matter if he is being treated fairly or not. He doesn’t like it, and so, in his mind, it isn’t fair.

If this scenario was limited to children on a playground, it wouldn’t concern me enough to bother thinking about it. But, increasingly, I’m noticing this cry coming from adults! Like the boy on the playground, fairness may have little to do with the actual events, it’s sufficient that things aren’t going as desired.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that “fairness” is not a worthy ideal so be strived for. We all agree with the adage “may the best team win” (unless of course our team is playing and they’re not winning). It’s just that we need a consensus of just what fairness is before we ask our elected officials to pass the Congressional Fairness and Niceness Act and place it before the president for signing.

But before we go that far, let’s stop for a moment and think about what things might be like if life was fair. I do not mean perfect, just nominally fair. You know, as if the general attitude among people was “It’ll all work out in the end”. What would it be like? What would become of charities if the general population felt that those in need created their own situation? Would we still find bell-ringers outside of stores at Christmas? How much compassion would there be? We all know of those who look down upon anyone below their social class, so, how many more would there be?

Before I go on any further, some years ago, I read an article by a journalist from Norway. He briefly pointed out how the sudden increase of revenues into the country from the off-shore oil had been used to provide social benefits to the general population. Well, that sounds great. Nobody in particular owned that oil, so it seems only fair to divide it up among the population, rather than allowing a few individuals with connections in Oslo to get the lion’s share.

It leveled the playing field so to speak. You could say that it created greater equality among the citizens. That greater equality is much like the goal of those promoting fairness. Again, I am not saying that fairness and the quest for fairness is a bad thing, but there is more to it. The writer continued by saying that, in his opinion, they had lost something. With this newly found wealth and equality, it seemed that the citizens of Norway were no longer as warm and close-knit as they had been. The rough terrain and cold climate had created a society in which the people had to depend upon each other, that was now quickly changing. The author seemed saddened by a colder, more self-centered society. A society of greater equality created by an attempt to be fair.

So, when we talk about fairness, just what kind of fairness do we mean?

How much fairness do we want?

And are we willing to pay the price?

It’s something to think about.