Sunday, March 15, 2009

Another View of Equality

We seem to be hung up on the idea of equality. We have gone well beyond the idea of equal opportunity to the idea that we are all entitled to have what everyone else has. I offer the following as one example of what happens when we carry the equality idea too far, something that Klal seems to be doing a lot of.

Robert W. Service (1874 - 1958)

Equality

The Elders of the Tribe were grouped
And squatted in the Council Cave;
They seemed to be extremely pooped,
And some were grim, but all were grave:
The subject of their big To-do
Was axe-man Chow, the son of Choo.

Then up spoke Tribal Wiseman Waw:
"Brothers, today I talk to grieve:
As an upholder of the Law
You know how deeply we believe
In Liberty, Fraternity,
And likewise Equality."

A chipper of the flint am I;
I make the weapons that you use,
And though to hunt I never try,
To bow to hunters I refuse:
But stalwart Chow, the son of Choo
Is equal to us any two."

He is the warrior supreme,
The Super-caveman, one might say;
The pride of youth, the maiden's dream,
And in the chase the first to slay.
Where we are stunted he is tall:
In short, a menace to us all."

He struts with throwing stone and spear;
And is he not the first to wear
Around his waist with bully leer
The pelt of wolf and baby bear!
Admitting that he made the kill
Why should he so exploit his skill?"

Comrades, grave counsel we must take,
And as he struts with jest and jibe,
Let us act swiftly lest he make
Himself Dictator of our Tribe:
The Gods have built him on their plan:
Let us reduce him to a man."

And so they seized him in the night,
And on the sacrificial stone
The axe-men of the Tribe did smite,
Until one limb he ceased to own.
There! They had equalized the odds,
Foiling unfairness of the Gods.

So Chow has lost his throwing arm,
And goes around like every one;
No longer does he threaten harm,
And tribal justice has been done.
For men are equal, let us seek
To grade the Strong down to the weak.

3 comments:

Shorty said...

I love this topic...because what exactly IS equality? Most people have that, as you said "i want what they have" and just as the poem shows, if they can't then take away from those who have. Isn't it possible to be equivalent BUT different? Can't one person be gifted with good eye site to help the good tall hunter catch the food for the tribe and thus benefiting all?

Personally, i think we have turned into a society of BMW - bitch moan whine. Everyone complains. Everyone has it worse than someone else, and if someone is happy then there must be something wrong with them.

I blame the media, in part...the media makes everything seem bleak, and makes people panic. So everything is POTENTIALLy a tragedy. Ever notice on some economic forecasts how company X predicts less earnings for some quarter. LESS EARNINGS. Not a net loss. Its still net proft. Just not as much profit. But its less. Which is bad.

People have to react less to the immediate and take a moment to breathe and put things in perspective...how will this affect me in 10 minutes, 10 days, 10 weeks, 10 months or 10 years from now? And react accordingly.

Anonymous said...

Ever read this short story by Kurt Vonnegut on equality?

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

ProfK said...

JS,
Thanks for reminding me. I've used this story many a time in class and even had it on the recommended reading lists I posted last summer. It's a perfect fit to the Service poem.