Society consists
of individuals; no-one lives alone, by and for
himself, independent of the rest, but is connected,
by threads seen and unseen, to all the other
parts. Between the parts, however, are differences
in as many areas as we can think of: physically,
mentally, economically, culturally, racially,
and so on.
Throughout history,
attempts have been made to create ‘classless
societies’, in which everyone would be
equal, but it wasn’t long before some
people became ‘more equal’ than
others, and then they were back where they started,
or worse!
Equality is
an idea, not a fact; Nature knows nothing of
it, but brings forth things in variety and difference;
in fact, everything— from largest to smallest—is
unique. To talk of ‘equality of the sexes’,
for example, is a logical absurdity; male and
female are different and complement each other;
they can never be equal. There are rich because
there are poor, and vice-versa; there is good
because there is bad, high because there is
low, this because of that, you because of me,
etc. And if we are to overcome the problems
facing us, we must first see how things depend
upon other things.
When
Jesus was criticized for fraternizing with ‘publicans
and sinners’, he responded: "Those
who are healthy need not a physician, but those
who are sick’. We cannot turn our backs
on the problems of society, saying that it’s
not our business; we are society, whether we
like it or not, and if society’s boat
sinks, we will sink with it! |
