“Now, let’s be fair…”

No, let’s not. In fact, let’s give fairness a good swift kick in the…

That statement would certainly cause a stir among moms and school teachers. But, I got to thinking about a time when I was substitute teaching for a 2nd grade class and I was responsible that day for handing out awards. Everyone got an award and I mean everyone. Even the class clown who was failing most of his subjects and was known for being highly disruptive to the other students got an award. What did he get an award for? ”Class Comedian: For Making Everyone Laugh”. Ugh.  So, anyway, that lead me to think, as a virtue to be pursued, fairness is overrated. There is essentially 1 good argument for fairness and there are 2 good arguments against fairness.

A good reason to be fair:  Being fair does not show favoritism. Favoritism based on looks, the first born (or the baby of the family), nationality, economic background, and other arbitrary preferences is socially unhealthy and can be downright immoral.

A parent can show his/her love equally for all their children (and therefore proving that there is no favoritism going on) by treating them relatively the same on many issues.

But, for me, that’s where my support for fairness ends. Most people don’t talk about the damage of raising fairness to the top tier of virtues can have on people. And it seems to me that it comes out of a misuse of fairness. In the past, fairness may have included the idea of equaling the scales or making things right, but it has taken on pretty much one meaning now. Fairness means making everyone the same. But, does that always work? I don’t think so.

1. For example, if you check the motive for why someone wants to be treated fairly, often times it’s because they are jealous and/or they covet what their neighbor has.  By giving in and treating them fairly, we are actually rewarding them for their deceitful motives.

2. Another argument against fairness is that it acts as a deterrent for personal gain. Why try to win first place when everyone else is going to get a trophy? Why go out and earn the extra money when it’s just going to be taken from you and given to someone else *cough* welfare *cough*? Why try for error-less baseball game when the team ball is going to be given to someone who didn’t earn it? Fairness kills competition and competition is what pulls out our very best.

By the way, fairness does not equal kindness. Kindness is the result of a generous heart with the hope that the person you are kind to will one day “pay it forward”. That is the end goal of kindness. The end goal of fairness is to make everyone the same. But, should that be our primary goal as society? I would hope not, but unfortunately, I think we’re already down that road.

Fairness does not equal justice, either. If someone gets caught for stealing, should the judge award the thief half of what he stole and give back only have? That makes things fair, doesn’t it? You may argue that what’s fair is giving it all back, but that goes back to what I said before about what fairness used to mean and what it means now: making everyone the same.

One more little caveat: Diversity is fairness’s dirty little brother. In an effort to make everyone the same, diversity comes along and says that it something to be celebrated! That when we’ve reached diversity, we’ve reached the pinnacle of culture.  But, when you cash in on diversity, your giving up on another virtue: Excellence. One day, I’d like to see Fairness (and it’s dirty little brother Diversity) as a virtue replaced with Excellence as a virtue. Why strive for a world in which everyone is the same, when you can strive for a world in which everyone reaches their fullest potential?

Again, I am not saying totally do away with fairness. I am saying let’s use it properly and put an end to its misuse.