Equity v. Equality

Psalm 67

I remember seeing a cartoon posted in Facebook one day which truly illustrated the difference between equity and equality. The top picture had 3 people, each standing on a wooden crate in order to look over a fence. The people were of differing heights so the tall person stood with the top of the fence to his chest, the shorter person stood with the top of the fence above his head, and the person who was of medium height stood with the top of the fence just below his chin. That picture was titled "Equality" because each of the three were standing on a wooden crate which was exactly the same size.

The bottom picture, which was titled "Equity", shows the taller person with no wooden crate, the medium height person standing on one crate, and the shorter one standing on two crates which brings all of them to stand with the top of the fence just below their chin. The three people were now the exact same height and could equally enjoy whatever it was they were trying to see over the fence.

Today's Psalmist reminds us that God treats us with equity. In God's view we are not all the same, we each have different gifts which are shared by us at different levels. While there are some of us with the gift of organization, using color-coded notes in neatly catalogued calendars, there are those of us who remember we have a doctor's appointment purely by mistake and when we look at when that appointment was we call our doctor to apologize for not being there yesterday.

Because we are different people with different gifts and different abilities we cannot all be treated the same. Rather, we are to be treated according to our abilities so that the common good of all creation is achieved. We are loved the same by God and we are all given the opportunities to use our gifts in different situations to the abilities we are able to use them by God. The hope then becomes that we recognize how we are to use the gifts given to us by God to make our world a better place.

In other words, if you see someone who needs to use your crate, even if for a moment, let them borrow it. If you see that they may need it for a longer period of time, let them have it. I'm sure you'll still be able to see over the fence either way.