Thursday, March 6, 2008

Thinking in the Shower Can be Dangerous!

OK, I'm going to spit out some random thoughts that came to me in the shower this morning, and therefore, haven't been thoroughly processed. And maybe someone much, much wiser than I has already written a dissertation on the subject, and none of my thoughts are even new. But they're new to my brain this morning, so there you go.

Where did we come up with the idea that all men (and women) are "created equal"? I don't think that's quite right. Equal means the same. An equation has things that add up to the same thing on either side of the equal sign. But how can you put people on sides of an equal sign? All you have to do is look at my three kids, all born and raised in the same home with the same parents; they are not equal. They are not the same.

We talk all the time about how we are all unique, created with different gifts, skills, talents. We are not all the same. I don't think the "equal" thing is scriptural. I do think we are all loved, very, very much. And I do think that we are all wanted, with our uniqueness. We all have a role that fits us as we are, who we are. Like in Corinthians where it talks about the hand and the eye...both are needed in the body, both serve entirely different purposes.

Let's face it, we aren't equal. There are people that live with abundance, and others who live in desperation. Not equal. Is this idea of equality another American or Western obsession like privacy?

I do believe that we all have an equal opportunity...God gives everyone a chance to accept or reject Him...and I think it would be great to live in a country where there truly is an equal opportunity for all people. But we are not the same, you and me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You brought up the fact of an eqaution to where they all equal the same thing. What if in the build up of a human there is some kind of "point system" for each attribute and they all do add up to the same thing? What is your basis of equal?