Lives come into contact. Maybe at conception, on a street somewhere or maybe through technology. In one way or another, we humans are connected. Family, community, close or distant, human lives affect each other.
Texas is in the national news because the Governor called a special legislative session. Many of us hoped the focus would be to address safety related to the recent treacherous flooding event in Kerrville. Surprise!
The legislature is proposing to gerrymander the voting maps. What is right and what is fair about redrawing current maps? Who should decide the rules for voting? The people who choose their legislators? Or legislators who choose their voters?
This is both about impartial treatment and what is just and proper. Is it fair to offer equal opportunity for all but doesn’t consider individual needs? Individual needs would consider specific situations to determine best or better outcomes for all rather than treating everyone the same. Consider the multiple needs of elders within communities as an example. Or what standard of education do children need.
Being right might imply moral alignment or maybe a legal standard. Ethically we might consider a decision to be morally sound and just if it differs from what others perceive as fair. Fair is often subjective and self-serving versus objectively right as a standard. The question begins to feel like a double-bind.
Fair: equitable, impartial, objective, dispassionate
And/or
Right: legitimate, appropriate, just, correct, righteous
I am reminded of a song that gave me a felt sense of love and trust as a young child. “Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
As a maturing teen and early adult, I noticed that ‘all the children of the world’ were not loved. My blind trust disintegrated. Poof! Contradictions came at me like a whirlwind.
As an Elder edging towards 80 years, my heart breaks for ‘all the children’. Discerning the perceptive differences between right and fair, I come back to the song realizing it is truly about love, the shades, depths and capacity of love. Loving others without blame and judgment broadens perspective. For me, it’s about the WE of learning to LOVE beyond the field of right and wrong,
A beautiful article, Duanne. One path to the Love you describe is learning how to see the strengths and weaknesses of both sides - AND - the continual movement between them. If we could learn how to navigate this loop between opposing viewpoints, our lives could improve rapidly toward the Love you offer as the solution. We just don't know how to do it very well and keep getting caught up in right vs. wrong, as you described. Thanks for your article. I loved it!