What's Fair?

I am not prepared to endorse comedian Louis C.K. or his television show “Louie,” as I have never seen an entire episode, but have seen him a few times on other venues, and I know he does perform material which can tend to be fairly controversial. However, I recently saw an excerpt of his show, and there was a line in it which is a good lesson for all of us, of any age.

In the segment, Louie, who is played by Louis C.K., is preparing a meal for his two daughters. He has one slice of mango left, and he gives it to his older daughter. The younger one is upset and begins to grumble about the injustice of the situation. “Why does she get one and not me?”

“Because she’s a separate person from you. You’re never going to get the same things as other people. It’s never going to be equal. It’s not going to happen ever in your life, so you might as well learn that now.”

When she continues to protest about her sister getting something she didn’t, her father says, "That's right. Right now she’s lucky, and you’re not particularly lucky. Maybe later you’ll be lucky.”

"It's just not fair,” she complains repeatedly. "If she gets one, I should get one too."

"Look," he says, "the only time you should look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure they have enough. You don’t look in their bowl to make sure you have as much as they do." 

I'm supposing the lesson some will take from this is 'life isn't fair, get over it,' which is a valid observation. The aspect of the story I would draw attention to is that Louie's daughter is well-fed and taken care of, and even though she missed out on a piece of mango, she was going to have enough to eat for the upcoming meal. She had no real cause for concern she was going to be lacking, but her focus was on herself anyway. Louie tries to teach her a lesson about the importance of making sure others have what they need.

Scripture expresses it this way in I Corinthians 10:24, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor."

If we all take the focus off ourselves and what we want, and concentrate more on those around us, and what they need, the whole neighborhood will be better off, us included. A neighbor who is happy and has plenty is a good neighbor. Why wouldn't we want to be good neighbors and help others become good neighbors, too?