Here we are on the last quality of the American Dream. I will save my overall analysis for next week and stay focused on this particular aspect. It is probably a good start to look at the definition of equality. The Webster definition is the quality or state of being equal. I suppose that makes sense, equality is an adverb (or describing) the word equal.

And so, the definition of equal means of the same measure, quantity, amount, or number as another. Of course, we need to look at absolute and relative application of equality in the same manner that we have been looking at throughout the series.

What is this quality really getting at? Is it possible to have opportunity without equality? Maybe… you were given a job because of your parents, or what school you went to or for that matter whether you have a degree in a particular field. I would have to say that there are lots of areas that hands people opportunity over others.

It is pretty likely that this is really referring to racial or gender or even whatever self identifying class that I want to use. The question remains, do we have equality? Let us see. Are all races equal – no. Let us take something like skin cancer. Below are some statistics.

The point I am making is that it is physically impossible for all races to be equal, remember I am taking the absolute stance here. Now, is it possible that men and women are equal? Lets just look at how the transgender swimmers are doing.

Really can we make that case that there is really an absolute equality? I think the answer will never be yes. For instance, what are the odds that I would get equal consideration to be president? Can I get on the ballot, probably in a few locations but could I get elected, I highly doubt it. I think for the most part we have the equality in attempting something. Where we don’t and never will is largely achieving something.

There was a local kid about eight or nine years ago that started playing football as a freshman, first time ever. He was starting on varsity in the first game. By the time he was a senior he was one of the top 50 overall high school recruits, let alone number one in his position. He got a scholarship to play for USC and now he is actually in the NFL.

I don’t know if that was really his dream or it just worked out that way. The fact is there have been countless Heismen Trophy (best college player of the year) winners that never made it past one season in the NFL. There has to be some degree of luck in attaining some limited dreams. Just because I want it and do all the right things still don’t guarantee that I can achieve things. I would even argue that the best player in college football is not equal to most of his peers that get drafted and supersede his longevity.

I freely admit that story was more of an edge case than the intended center of the argument for equality. I am going to use conjecture from here on out. What is with pay inequality for genders? I think when the most people see that women get paid 80% of men, they assume that they just get paid less. I really don’t think that is the case.

We are not really talking about a woman and a man getting paid the same for the same job, we are talking about what all men make versus what all women make. We are talking about genders making different career choices because values and opportunities pursued are different amongst the sexes. This is not the first time, but currently, my boss is a woman. She works around the clock and she is very good at it. I hope she gets paid more than me because I don’t really want to do that.

End Your Programming Routine: I didnt’t talk a lot about race today and I am going to leave things here. I guess to be blunt, I don’t see common equality as an issue. I am not saying there isn’t racism or discrimination but largely we do not have equality barriers. Further to this, everyone will never be equal. That is the beauty of humanity and I think we should always play to our strengths.