The Pursuit of Equality
NO ONE likes to feel inferior. “I am as good as the next man” is a common saying. Do we not find an air of superiority distasteful? Basically, it is reassuring to feel equal to others. However, it is easier to think and talk about equality than to attain it, as many have experienced. Consider this example.
In 1776 the English colonies in North America asserted their claim to self-government. Their famed Declaration of Independence proclaimed among “truths to be self-evident” that “all men are created equal.” They further declared that it was the right of all citizens to enjoy “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
At the time that the 13 colonies broke from Britain, their population was about three million. Of these, more than half a million were slaves. It took almost a hundred years to abolish slavery in the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson, a prime mover behind the Declaration, remained a slave owner throughout his life. The aims of that Declaration were noble, yet time was needed for even part of such fundamental equality to be realized.
Around the earth many still lack much freedom, or they suffer discrimination. Realizing this, various individuals devote their lives to trying to remove all sorts of injustices and inequalities. One recent United Nations publication on the subject of freedom refers more than a dozen times to being equal and to the need of equality. Evidently it is still an elusive goal. Why?
The problem is that equality has many facets and is not an easy thing to define. People look for equality in different ways, depending on their circumstances. To what extent, then, can it be said that men are equal? What may we reasonably expect, both now and in the future, as to equality with our fellowman?
Equality—How Real Today?
A prince and a pauper may be born in the same city on the same day, but the silver spoon of wealth and privilege will likely favor the one just as poverty will affect the other. This is just one aspect that shows why it cannot be said that all people today are born equal.
Much depends upon the community in which we live and the degrees of equality it has developed over the years. The Encyclopædia Britannica sums it up nicely:
“All societies necessarily make arrangements for the sharing of wealth, power, and other values. Among individuals and groups these arrangements exhibit all degrees of equality and inequality.”
In any community, every individual has something to give that is unique to him. Some have thus sought to draw on the individual talents and abilities of all and equitably to distribute wealth and the means of production. Hence the communistic dictum: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Also: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” Despite the seeming appeal of such philosophies, though, inequalities persist under all human governmental systems.
The fact is that, rather than advancing the cause of equality, some political systems have sought to capitalize on supposed racial inequalities. Recall the Nazi emphasis on a “master race.” Yet the existence of any master race has long since been discredited. Aside from evident differences in physical characteristics, “the possible existence of true racial differences in behaviour and intelligence becomes difficult to establish,” to quote again from the Encyclopædia Britannica. Such racial equality is basic.
Education and Ability
Education can be a great equalizer when its facilities are readily available, but it does not always work out that way. In many countries, hard-earned money still must be paid for even the most rudimentary aspects of learning.
For example, in one country of the southern hemisphere, only 20 percent of the people are literate. It is not uncommon there to find a family in which the two oldest children are reasonably well educated but the rest receive no education at all, simply because the family budget will not allow for it. Other developing countries face similar problems.
This situation tends to sustain inequality because, in our modern society, possible advancement is economically weighted in favor of the educated. Still, degrees from some universities are more sought after than those from others because the former carry greater prestige. So education is by no means the final answer to today’s problem of inequality.
Fundamental Rights
Genetic factors may determine that humans can never be identical in every respect, yet do you not agree that in certain fundamentals equality should exist? Would not mankind be much better off if progress could be made in these areas:
RACIAL EQUALITY: How can we ever overcome the stigma so often attached by one race or class to another? Resentments go deep and cause many problems. What can be done to ensure the treatment of individuals as equals, according them the dignity they deserve?
FOOD: When you see pictures of starving children and read of the millions who die each year of malnutrition or its related illnesses, how do you react? It is well established that there could be enough food for the world’s population. Why, then, should there not be a more equitable distribution of it to alleviate such suffering?
WORK: Unemployment can bring heartache and frustration—even suicide. Is it not possible for all to be gainfully employed? Can there not be equal opportunity of work for all?
EDUCATION: Should not all individuals have access at least to basic education, so that illiteracy could be eliminated? Rather than tending to increase the differences between classes (‘the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer’), could not education help to improve the condition of all? That would especially prove to be so if education covered more than technical matters, if it included morality and principles for quality human relations.
Certainly, you will agree that the pursuit of equality has a long way to go!