There were times when I was growing up that I was among the bigger boys my age. I can still remember when I first grasped the fact that my growing was probably over and that I was not going to be tall. I have been a male all my life and I can assure you that relative height matters in the male world. Many have noticed that taller men get elected and pursued and admired. There have been many times that I felt I was dealt an unlucky hand. I am sometimes referred to as being "height-challenged".
I have a distinct lack of finer depth perception since my left eye is not aligned with my right as nicely as it could be. The result is a kind of double vision, a different image into the brain from each eye. Ophthalmologists have told me that my brain decided in early childhood to concentrate my brain's visual experience on the input from the better eye.
I have been blessed with intelligence and memory, in some cases and in some ways, more than my fair share. So, between height challenges and gifts, I am quite aware that nature and life don't distribute shortages nor gifts evenly to all. If that is true, what's with the equality talk? Where do we get ideas about we are all equal? We aren't and we won't be. We might very well not like the situation if we were.
Yesterday, I looked up the motto of the French republic. I felt confident that equality was one of the mainstays along with fraternity and liberty. I was right - it was. So, both the US and France have long held ideals concerning equality among their citizens. With plenty of talk about billionaires, campaign money and with a New Yorker article about Prof. Elizabeth Anderson, head of the philosophy department at the U. of Michigan, the subject of equality is in the air. I suppose it usually is. When I get hauled into court, I would like to have a kind of equality with others in the eyes of the judge and the jury. Despite the effects of nature and the accumulated results of ups and downs of life and fortune, I want to be granted a kind of equality with taller citizens, those with better eyesight. And, yes, those whose blessings are less than mine, too.
