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Forum Post: How can we be equal when we are all different?

Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 16, 2011, 11:43 p.m. EST by aries (463) from Nutley, NJ
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discuss

9 Comments

[-] 1 points by Puzzlin (2898) 12 years ago

Read the Constitution. Then maybe you be ready for a discussion.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

Thomas Jefferson 1776

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[-] 1 points by ronjj (-241) 12 years ago

You post a very interesting question. And one which I believe deserves a response. My personal feeling is that I do not want to see all of as being equal in the terms that most posts on here advocate.

I believe that we should all have equal opportunity within the freedoms that this country allows.

I believe that we should take advantage of our individual natures. I really have no desire to be an top NFL player who sings opera in NYC during the off season and who is legally blind.

I believe that most of the direction of these posts is towards equality, especially economic equality and I think that this is the very thing that needs to be avoided. If equality means everyone has the same number of nickels in their pocket when the START gun goes off and that is the end of the race - then what is the point.

I believe that an envy driven society is a doomed society. If everyone has economic equality, does that mean that I should also have equal opportunity to sing the national anthem at the next football game - that is not something that anyone really wants me to have to be equal. What about the size of my home - should that be equalized too. How about the size of in the name of equality. Does that mean that I get a boat-same as everyone else right-even though I really don't want a boat and not one on a lake with 2,000 other boats on a beautiful Saturday in July - but that would be equality - unless of course my neighbor had a lake of his own on his farm them we would have to get a lake for all 2,000.

Isn't the cry for equality really made when we do not have something that we want that someone else has. We are not really talking about equality for all - we are talking about equality for me and you. The rest of the country can find their own equality. I see that the CEO is making $145M this year so it would be nice for him to split with me and we would then real that utopia of equality Forget the other 3M people in the country - they can go out and get their own equality. Besides if we had to split that $145M up among all of us, we would only get about 50 cents each and that just would not be fair - maybe equal, maybe BUT - well it just would not be equal and fair because I had to do all the work to get that CEO to give up 50% of what he had so it really is mine and I don't want to play "equality" any more with you or with the rest of the Americans or for that matter the 7+B people in the world. Let's just be real quiet about all of this - the CEO and I can work it out without your help any more.

ENOUGH ALREADY - Thanks for the question.

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[-] 1 points by aries (463) from Nutley, NJ 12 years ago

excellent

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[-] 0 points by MASTERdBATER (15) 12 years ago

like

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[-] 1 points by betuadollar (-313) 12 years ago

The problem, my friend, is that for some 250 years now the Dec has been misinterpreted by literally hundreds, if not thousands, of scholars. To understand this, you need inhabit the Jeffersonian mind; more, you have to view his art through the eyes of writer.

We are not equal; we were "created" equal. (And no, I am not referring to reproduction here.)

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[-] 0 points by justhefacts (1275) 12 years ago

Yep. And Puzzlin's pursuit of happiness has NO right to interfere with MY pursuit of happiness either. Or a billionaires. And the "governed" have never given their "consent" to taking what someone else has earned and redistributing it to everyone else. Thomas Jefferson said QUITE a bit about that very topic and I don't think Puzzlin would like most of it one bit.

(Probably won't like you pointing out that his quote came from the Declaration of Independence and NOT the Constitution either. lol)

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[-] 0 points by REALamerican (241) 12 years ago

We ARENT all equal. I believe what it ACTUALLY says, is we are all created equal. We have the same opportunity from birth as anyone else. But as soon as your out, your life will shape what and who you are. So no, not everyone truly ends up equal.

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[-] 0 points by ronjj (-241) 12 years ago

And more importantly, we do not all end up equal in all ways.

It really seems foolish to dwell constantly on equality in only one or two areas of life. Like I posted above - I am only looking for equal based upon my creation. I do not want to be equal to everyone else - not financially, not creatively, not based on intelligence, not on looks (though some equality in that area with Brad Pitt, might help my self image), but I am who I am. I do not feel guilty about having 50cents in my pocket when the person I am having lunch with has only 25cents and I do not envy the other person who has 99cents (but we will try to get him to pick up the tab today).

It seems that so many people have become so full of envy, jealousy, hate, fear, and all the other bad things that get into our heads that we have totally distorted what life is all about and we forget that we are human - even if we see those around us as inhuman.

The overall tone of most of the posts on here are very depressing to me - the hopelessness that people put themselves into is almost unbelievable. Perhaps we are way too PROUD of who we think we are and what we think the world owes us for being so GREAT.

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[-] 0 points by REALamerican (241) 12 years ago

exactly my point. everyone has their own experiences that provide them with unique stuff

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