Equality is one of the foundations of American society. It's in the one of the most well-known parts of our Declaration of Independence: "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." Of course, the founding fathers were focused on the political aspects of liberty when they wrote that, but think about this: can people really experience liberty fully or pursue happiness fully when they aren't being treated as equal in other areas? When strangers, peers, even so-called friends are treating them as "less than" because of some external characteristic—or for any reason really? If we truly believe all people are equal, it has to extend to all aspects of how we treat others...or we're just not being honest.
I think we notice when people treat us as equals since not every one does of course. It's funny as I write this, they are advertising on t.v. an anniversary presentation of 'To Kill A Mockinbird." Atticus was talking to his daughter as if she were a rational human being. My dad did that. I think treating us girls and boys as equals was THE greatest gift he could ever have given us. Then in the commercial Atticus is reminding the courtroom that "All men are created equal." Talk about timing for this topic! And there are so many stereotypes out there that get used as sorting bins of inequality, gender-wise, geography-wise, faith-wise. You name it. Sadly.
ReplyDeleteVery thoughtful post!
Thanks, Wendy!
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