Is Life Fair?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 10 May 2014 22:22:55 -0400

With all the discussions and threads on here, I thought it would be time to post a short essay I wrote several years ago. I call it the “Fairness Essay”. I wrote this a couple months before the 2008 election to further several discussions going on throughout the country with many issues. It was not an affront towards any particular candidate or party but a way to invoke dialogue. I kept the writing as it is though since I wrote it. Yes, there is a very specific purpose to it but I’ll leave it up to you, the reader, to discern what it is. For many, it may seem obvious but it is not. There is also an additional question related to this. If you would like to respond, by all means but please do so respectfully and provide reasonable feedback, whether positive or negative.
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Fairness. What is fairness? I’ve been thinking a lot about this not only about life in general but especially with this election coming up. Before I get into the crux of the matter let’s start by defining fairness or, more specifically, fair.

Merriam-Webster defines fair as “marked by impartiality and honesty: free from self interest, prejudice or favoritism”. Synonyms include JUST, EQUITABLE, IMPARTIAL, OBJECTIVE. JUST, in regards to Fair, implies an exact following of a standard of what is right and proper. EQUITABLE implies a less rigorous standard than JUST and usually suggests equal treatment of all concerned. IMPARTIAL stresses an absence of favor or prejudice. OBJECTIVE stresses a tendency to view events or persons as apart from oneself and one’s own interest or feelings.(1)

Now, how does fairness come into play in our lives? How do we properly judge what is fair when arbitrating disputes or, more in general, giving out rewards and punishments? Most of us do this based on our past experiences but mostly based on the specific workings/ideology of the parties concerned. For example, you hire two men to work on your lawn. Both men are of equal fitness, intelligence and capacity to work. Your lawn is equally in disarray on both sides and you task each man to clean up a side. One individual mows, weeds, bags the trash, bug sprays, and cleans up after himself. The other just mows the lawn. I believe that most, in fairness, would pay the first man more than the second because he did a far better job. Now, what if we paid both individuals the same amount? Is this fair? Why or why not? This goes into the heart of my idea of fairness and how to institute it across the board throughout the United States. Bear with me on this. Take a few seconds to think about each item then go to the next.

First of all, everyone would be treated exactly the same. Everyone who is of working age, 18 and older, would be paid the exact same wage of $50,000 a year. No more, no less. Not a penny. It does not matter what you do or what position you have, everyone will receive the same amount. Is this fair?

Second, everyone would have the exact same car and house with both items having the exact same features, colors, and furniture. Is this starting to sound fair?

Third, everyone would receive the exact same type of medical care. Across the board. No favoritism, nothing.

Fourth, no one is allowed to buy anything. Everything is free but everyone will receive the exact same thing as everyone else.

Fifth, everyone will have plenty of food to eat for each person but everyone will eat the exact same thing in the exact same portion every day. The meals will change from day to day but everyone will have the same meal. Meals will be brought to each house at the exact same time for each meal. There will be no storing of food, either from attempted purchases, which will be illegal, or from meal leftovers. All leftover food from meals will be discarded.

Sixth, everyone will have the same clothing. There will be no makeup, jewelry or headgear.

Seventh, there will be no money making mechanisms, i.e. interest yielding accounts, bonds, stocks. This will also be illegal since you can’t buy anything anyways.

Does this sound fair? Can we do this? It IS fair for everyone. What do you think? Why or why not can this be accomplished? Give reasons for either argument, whichever side you take.

Footnote
1. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary

Response by CH (MAJ) Private RallyPoint Member made May 10 at 2014 10:25 PM

CH (MAJ) Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 10 May 2014 22:25:15 -0400

I'm glad life is not fair, because I've been blessed far more than I deserve.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made May 10 at 2014 11:17 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 10 May 2014 23:17:59 -0400

By your own remarks, you understand that the scenario you painted is not, in fact, fair or just, simply equitable. Life is none of the three.

This is one of the things that I find most demoralizing about the officer corps as it is currently. TIS receives the most monetary reward. Awards tend to also be time driven, like at the end of deployment or PCS. I worked with a 1LT who had 14 years TIS so he made $2k/mo more than me even though we were the same rank and he was watching paint dry in the S3 after failing as a company XO and I was the BN S2. At the same time, I made more than a lot of my 1LT peers because I had a family so I got BAH. Another 1LT who had two back-to-back relief for cause OERs was promoted to CPT months ahead of me because he got his commission months before I did. Fair? Just?

Another RP member pointed out the irony of how socialist/communist the military structure is while most service members individual beliefs are extremely conservative. The reason it (marginally) works in the military is because most of us aren't dirt bags. Most of us ignore the lack of fairness and justice and drive on. The public at large wouldn't...that's why 99% of them aren't here.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made May 10 at 2014 11:25 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Sat, 10 May 2014 23:25:18 -0400

Fairness is a Goal an Ideal. Something we should all strive for in our dealings with others. Part of my Heavy Catholic Upbringing, we are big on "Social Justice". Do we achieve it, most of the time no. Does that mean that I won't strive for it. No. When I was younger there was a saying "The only thing you can count on are Death and Taxes" and now days people have trouble with that concept. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fall way short of that magical goal but I will keep trying to be Fair!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2014 10:15 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 11 May 2014 10:15:22 -0400

Well this question is unfair. LOL. One of the principles I used to measure fairness (if one can) is from the works of Kurt Vonnegut. In astonishing detail he sums it all up by this very fair commentary.

First however I want to use another word that kind of relates and that is the word, 'why'. In response to the question of why, the aliens said, "why you, why me, why anything?" "There is no why, there just is".

So like the word "fair" the question is pointless, especially as it regards the past. We can marvel, we can be upset and we can do all those things to protest. But all that drama leads to the same outcome. The past cannot be relived. ( done over)

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2014 11:15 AM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 11 May 2014 11:15:24 -0400

Without getting overly critical, I think the essay doesn't capture the real problem of "fairness" (or maybe "unfairness"). Specifically, you seem to frame the problem as people not getting compensated fairly for the quality of their work. But I would suggest that the real problem is that it's seldom easy to establish what's fair and what's not. A couple of examples:

-Two officers are waiting for command. Officer A is a high performer, but Officer B (who is decent, but not as good as A) is chosen because he went to West Point with the person who makes the choice. Officer B is still going to do a decent job, but Officer A (the higher performer) is left out in the cold. Is that fair?

This example repeats ad nauseum (someone winning out during an interview because he happens to have grown up in the same town as the interviewer, or likes the same sports team, or shares a similar interest, or anything not related to actual competency). It can also apply to racism/sexism/etc. Most people aren't actual and intentional "racists" from my experience. It just comes down to what's familiar and commonplace to them.

Or to move away from the military sphere:

-Two kids grow up in the same town and attend the same high school. Kid A grows up with both parents in the household, has enough to eat, and plenty of free time to study and thrive. He is of average intelligence, but his parents make him study, and they save for him to go to college without debt.

Kid B grows up at the same time, but his father has passed away early or otherwise is not in the picture. Kid B is naturally a rare talent, but he's got no time to study or maintain his grades, because he has to work every day after school to provide the basics to his family. Kid B possesses a far superior talent and potential but does not have the luxury of security and time to get good grades, and his remaining parent certainly does not have the means to pay for his college. In virtually every instance, Kid A will be far more successful than Kid B, despite his significant natural talent. Is that "fair"? Kid A won the "parent lottery" and gets more success for no other reason. Is that even efficient? The market seems to be foreclosing on talent for unrelated variables.

I'm not arguing for one definitive answer or the other. My point is simply that rather than boil it down to the problem of getting appropriate compensation for quality of work, it might be more complicated than that.

Context and perspective are everything. I've been very fortunate with the level of success I've had with my professional life. When I was much younger, I used to think that I deserved and earned everything I got because I worked harder and was better than others. But as I matured, I realized from serving with the diverse population that makes up our military that a lot of my successes have been due to timing and luck, especially the luck that I had to grow up how I did, where I did, and with the level of comfort and security in which I did.

Just my $.02.

Response by Cpl David Garcia made May 31 at 2014 9:12 PM

Cpl David Garcia — Sat, 31 May 2014 21:12:58 -0400

Interesting post, your essay on fairness falls in between Sir Thomas More’s Utopia and communism and both ideas are not "fair". As we have seen from both fiction and non-fiction “Fairness” is always good for the status-quo but not the power that be. If everyone received $50k a year as you stated there will always be that one person who spends on $40k and has $10 left. It is not the ten that he loans that makes him bad it is the usury charge that makes him bad. That is why “money” is the root of all evil because it is not the money or whatever is considered of value but the profits from it. I will not attempt to bore the reader of my post with why and how but just that fairness is a nice thought just not possible.

As a quote from a good military movie stated ( I will paraphrase), “There is the way things ought to be and there is the way things are.” Simply, we are in the way things are. Great topic though.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made May 31 at 2014 11:00 PM

LCpl Steve Wininger — Sat, 31 May 2014 23:00:17 -0400

Redistribution of wealth takes the motivation away from the person that goes the extra mile to do a better job on the yard. Additionally, it gives no incentive for the lazy to be productive. It sounds like you may have been reading 1984 recently.

To be fair, the examples you gave are not fair to the ones who work hard to achieve better. Honestly, it is not fair to those that are too lazy to work hard to achieve greater. Hunger can be a good motivator to work. It actually sounds like Communism.

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 1 at 2014 1:34 AM

GySgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 01:34:53 -0400

I tell my Marines that I am always Fair :D

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2014 8:45 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:45:40 -0400

Very simply: No. Life is not fair.

But, can't it just be unfair in my favor? That being said, I don't feel that what you are speaking of would be fair. It sounds to me an awful lot like text-book communism as we see in Star Trek (Nerd moment). It wouldn't work. The reason it wouldn't work is because you cannot suppress human nature and our desire to have more. To have better. Ultimately, even in this kind of environment you wind up with a super elite who have plenty and a large majority who have very little. And, it wouldn't take very much time for the those that don't have to rise up and take what they feel is theirs.

Response by MSgt Michelle Mondia made Feb 20 at 2015 10:32 AM

MSgt Michelle Mondia — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 10:32:25 -0500

Just read your old post. Example...The military dose a good job being fair wouldn't you say? Everyone gets the same pay based on pay grade not job skill set, right? You can do a shit job or great job you still get paid,do we not? So you have the US military as a great example of what fairness is. But this kinda fairness sounds a lot like socialism....yikes!!!

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 26 at 2018 11:40 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:40:47 -0500

Life is not fair.