I have spoken previously about respecting one's elders. I was, thence, disappointed with the effort of a high school girl this week. She and her friends were sitting on some chairs and the train was rapidly filling up. The four girls, all of them aged approximately 15 years, were talking the sort of mindless rubbish that 15 year old girls talk about when they congregate. There was a lot of "I can't believe she wore that", "I wish I looked like Beyonce" and "He is soooooooo cute, I think I love him". Naturally every third word was "like".
These four chattering bundles of hormonal angst continued to sit in their chairs when a distinctly middle aged woman entered the train and had nowhere to sit.
Unfortunately, we are now at a period in society where we have to have signs tell us what to do and how to act. On the train, a regular commuter will see signs such as the one that says, "John is sitting down. Mary gets on the train. John sees Mary and stands up. Well done John."
Someone still needs to satisfactorily explain to me when we became a society of inward thinking amoeba, impervious to the needs of others. I don't understand why we need to have tax payer dollars go to promoting good manners, but that is another blog post waiting to happen, I think.
Anyway, there are signs on the train that are worded something like, "Students are to stand up for adult passengers." The gist is, if you are a student, get your sorry butt of the chair and let an adult sit down.
Thankfully, the lady in our story had the wherewithal to ask the 15 year old students to stand up for her, citing the sign that was in clear view. The 15 year olds did stand up, to their credit, but only after much grumbling. One of the more feisty girls was then heard to remark to her friend, "That's not fair that I have to stand up. Where is the equality?" If I had a more resolute backbone, I wold have said to her, "You, at age 15 are indeed equal to the 30something year old woman for whom you have just stood. It's just that you are less equal. If you want to be more equal, grow up and start paying the full adult ticket price, not the discounted student one."
It always amuses me that the best comebacks are so infrequently voiced. Needless to say, I obviously amused myself at this time.
But this 15 year old girls view of fairness and equality intrigued me. Throughout the history of the world, there have been a people searching, yearning for equality and equal status within their community. The pages of history are littered with the records of downtrodden peoples all over the world. I want to focus on one, about which I feel strongly. And that is the equality of the sexes.
As a man, I am proud of what the Suffragettes achieved in their efforts to, first, allow women to vote, and second, allow women to run for Parliament. I agree wholeheartedly with the ideals of the Suffragette cause, but some of the actions of the more aggressive or radical elements were nothing short of terrorism and I do not see how they can be condoned. And that it is where, for me, something good at heart turns rancid. Equality, it seems from a fanatical point of view, can come via the barrel of a gun.
Make no mistake, equality is good and should be striven for. I guess my question is, when is it alright to make an attempt on another person's life? Is it ok to kill someone in your struggle for freedom? Is it ok to kill someone in your fight for equality, to be free of subjugation? Is it ok to kill someone for whom you have to stand up when travelling on a train?
Equality, the definition thereof, should be the starting point of anyone's argument when fighting for their rights. The United Nations created a Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, in Article 1, "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
The key for me here is that all human beings, and for the sake of clarity this includes gender, race, religion, sexual preference, education, wealth, etc, are born free and equal in dignity and rights. I cannot find where it states that all human beings have to have the same experiences to be equal. Rather it states that we are all equal in dignity and rights.
Lionel Trilling, an American critic born in the early 20th Century, once said, "We who are liberal and progressive know that the poor are our equals in every sense except that of being equal to us."
And that, for me, just about sums it up. We are all equal, some of us are just more equal. I do not say this to condone the dominance of one race, gender, religion, etc, over another. I think it is dangerous and obscene for someone to say I have a greater right to be happy and free than you because you are a woman, a Muslim, a homosexual, etc. I cannot and will not ever condone such attitudes. That being said, I do not think that equality lies in giving everything to everyone. What I mean by that is illustrated in the following example:
A bus driving friend of mine told me of his employer's new policy. The policy stated that the company must have a workforce that includes at least 40% female bus drivers. I was informed that at the time of that policy, the company had 20% female staff. This meant that the company needed to double the number of female bus drivers. A result of this policy was that male staff members had to be sacked. One male bus driver had 15+ years experience and he had to make way for a female driver with no experience behind the wheel of a bus.
Is that equality? To me it is bureaucracy gone mad. How equal is it for the experienced male bus driver to be sacked in favour of a rookie female bus driver so that the company can say they are an equal opportunity employer. I honestly believe that equal opportunity lies in being able to be considered for a job, not in landing that job. I am of the opinion that if you are qualified for the job, then you should get it. You should not get it solely based on your gender, or any other determinant of your existence on this planet.
If we want equality, we need to focus on the last part of Article 1 in the UDHR, as quoted above, acting towards each other in a spirit of brotherhood (and in the interests of equality, sisterhood, too).
