Fairness is Relative

This Family Circus cartoon is a couple of weeks old, but I've been waiting for it to come out online.

I laughed out loud when I read it because it is so true.

In my experience as a youth minister, kids are obsessed with fairness, especially Junior High kids. Almost every single time that we play a game or do an activity that involves rules, I hear at least one kid shout, "That's not fair!"

But I've also noticed that kids' definition of "fair" is quite relative. Mostly, it seems, "fair" means getting what you want, not what is truly fair to all that are involved.

That's why this cartoon is so dead on. How does Billy understand fairness here? Does this way of thinking sound familiar to you?

For kids of all ages, I think we need to think about what we consider fair and how we can live our lives in a way that truly is fair to everyone, including ourselves.