The World of Fairness

Vincent Giordano has an interesting job.  He's the head guy for the New Jersey Education Association, the teacher's union in Jersey.  Sometimes....he gets called in to do an interview, and folks ask stupid questions.  So Vincent got this question.....why he didn't like the idea of giving vouchers to lower income folks.....giving them a chance to take Johnny Junior out of the local crappy public school and move him into a successful private school situation.  Vincent sat there for a moment, and basically said: “Life’s not always fair.”

This quote got out.  Folks are looking at Vincent, who makes over $300k a year as the union chief, and looking at this comment of "life's not always fair."  Folks aren't happy about the comment.

I sat and pondered over this.  I grew up in the 1970s and you didn't really have a bunch of folks running around, and talking about making life for everyone.  Kids got failing test grades.  Some folks still had outdoor toilets.  Some folks still burned coal in a fireplace because they couldn't afford anything else.  Some kids never went onto college because there just wasn't money for it.  Some guys had crappy third-rate chainsaws because that was all they could afford.  Some guys still drove 15-year old Ford pick-ups because that was all they could afford.  Some folks considered Campbell's soup to be a 4-star meal....mostly because that was all they could afford.  Some folks drunk Schlitz Beer because that was mostly all they could afford.

Sometime in the past twenty years....folks have come around to a silly notion that life is fair.  Somehow....someway....we've all earned the fairness deal.  My humble guess is that half the American population is walking around in some daze....believing that fairness will come to them.

The more I thought about Vincent's comments....the more I kind of agreed with him.  There just isn't any fairness in life.  If you are unhappy with your public school and virtually poor.....then tough luck.  You can move to another state and restart your life, or just accept the crapped up situation you've got.  The union and the teachers don't really care one way or another about getting better.  Their priority is simple.....find more money....for pensions, pay, and benefits.

So as you sit around tonight....fantasizing about your fairness level in life, you ought to think about this...up until the 1990s, there was no fairness in life.  George Washington accomplished everything in his life without fairness.  People crossed the plains and in some cases....died while crossing the plains, without fairness.  Men landed on the beaches of Normandy to fight the Nazis, and some died, without fairness.  Some folks were in the Twin Towers on the wrong day, and met up with a world without fairness.  Some guys stood up in the Alamo, and met their life's destiny without fairness.  Lewis and Clark crossed America, without fairness.

We've done pretty good without fairness.  Maybe that says something.