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Hello, Friends!
As seems to be the usual, I was crazy busy this past month. One of the best reasons for my busyness is that on the day that this edition of Tarabytes was *supposed* to be sent out, April 1st, 2017, my baby sister got married!
Congratulations Tiffany & Jimmy!
I decided the e-zine could wait a day so I could party with my family 😃 And because I waited, I can now share a photo from the day!
WEDDING PHOTO
Other events from March included:
* My husband’s birthday. We celebrated with a dinner date <3.
* Finalizing and delivering wedding invitations for Tiff’s wedding (Did you know I design event paper? Links below to check out my photo galleries and contact page!)
* New tradition of "Yoga Wednesdays" which includes yoga, friend time, healthy food & wine!
* My cousin’s 30th birthday party at New Smyrna Beach
* A bachelorette slumber party at my house to honor my sister, complete with sangria, dirty card games, and penis soap that needs to be stoked, vigorously, in order to lather.
* A Flogging Molly concert for Craig’s birthday present!
* Bought a new office chair that can fit both Zagg and me - This has been on my wishlist for a WHILE now!
* Read books about the Columbine tragedy, one about the events and aftermath, and one by Sue Klebold, the mother of one of the shooters (links below). The one by Sue Klebold wound up being oddly relevant to the topic of the e-zine this month (foreshadowing)…
For this edition of Tarabytes, I want to talk about equality, how I think we put too much focus on it, and what I think we should focus on instead. Surprised? Let me explain myself...
Equality implies that we all receive the same, or equal, of something that is shared (resources, opportunities, food…). But this doesn’t always make sense in practice. If we were to divide up a pie (I really like food analogies, go with it), it wouldn't make sense for a 3-day old baby to receive the same size piece of the pie as a full grown man. Besides the fact that babies shouldn’t have pie, it would not take the same amount of pie to fill both people to capacity. And maybe the dude doesn’t like pie or doesn’t even have an oven to cook one. Treating everyone equally ignores that everyone differs in their capacities, interests, resources, and experiences. In this case, not only is equality unhelpful, it could be downright unethical (who gives babies pie anyway?). In cases like this, and in most cases I would argue, focusing on creating equity is more immediately effective than pushing for equality.
We often hear equality and equity used interchangeably, but they are actually quite different. Definitions of Equity: fairness; impartiality; taking into account the needs of different people. Synonyms include justice, humanity, truth, rightness, rationality & honor. Equity is, clearly, my jam.
As Americans, we expect to be treated pretty much the same as every other American. We’re all equal now, right? We know this isn’t really true, though. We treat people differently for lots of reasons based on our, and their, experiences, resources, capacities, interests, ethnicities, religions, economic statuses, etc. Again, it wouldn’t make sense to treat everyone exactly the same, because we’re not all the same person. Problems arise though, when based on those reasons, certain people are denied access to basic necessities like education, economic opportunity, transportation, food, housing, justice, healthcare, and communications or even their constitutional rights, like freedom of speech and the right to vote. I think we can sometimes spend too much time trying to make everything "equal”, without thinking twice about whether or not "equal" is really the ideal solution. Creating daily equities puts us all closer to being on an even playing field, which is really the true intention of equality in the first place, right?Equity acknowledges the fact that human life has innate value, just by virtue of being part of humanity.
I’m not saying that equality isn’t a good thing or that it’s impossible to achieve, but I think it’s a long-term goal. The shorter term goal of equity would be for all of humanity to have the exact right amount of “pie” in order to live and thrive based on their specific needs. Only once everyone in society has reached that baseline of having all that they need to succeed to their fullest potential, can true equality be achieved.
“Equity is a prerequisite for Equality"
So what can we do to start creating daily equities? The very first step would be to
recognize, accept and respect that every person has inherent importance and worthiness. Then acknowledge that society has, and continues to, fail at doing this. Start paying attention to the inequities in your own life and around you. Starting and engaging in conversations with people about the differences between equality and equity is the next step. Interrupt patterns of inequity by pointing them out. If you are in a position of power, take steps to create equity where you can. These might seem like small things, but little actions can lead to huge changes as they add up. As I was writing this edition of the e-zine, I was reminded of a line I read in one of the Columbine books I just finished:
"In the aftermath of Dylan’s death, I entertained hundreds of fantasies about ways to atone for what Dylan had done. Finally, here it was. I didn’t have to trade my life in a terrorist attack to save a school bus filled with children. I could write a paragraph for a website, populate a spreadsheet, go around a ballroom putting programs on plates, pick a speaker up from the airport. The suicide loss community taught me that showing up in small and simple ways could save lives too”. Sue Klebold - A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy
"Showing up" for equity in small and simple ways on a daily basis is, I believe, the way to create true equality for future generations to enjoy.
Once again, thank you so much for reading this month’s edition of Tarabytes! It means the absolute freaking world to me that you would take the time out of your busy schedule each month to catch up with me. What do you think about equity vs equality? With equality being the mega-buzz word that it is right now, why do you think we don’t really talk much about equity? PLEASE EMAIL ME! Reply to this email with your thoughts about this edition, any other edition, or just anything you’d like to chat about!
Love,
Tara A.
