The Word I Hate . . . .

This week one of the words I HATE

has reared its ugly head at my house.

it's the word . . . .

FAIR

It's a horrible word.

One that I think is largely misused.

Too many people spout the ideals of things needing to be FAIR.

But what they really want is for things to be UNFAIR.

They want to get MORE or BETTER than the next person.

Ethan has been on a kick where he wants his chores to be FAIR

Compared to Josh's. 

So I made things FAIR.

It's only fair that Ethan get up and get ready the same time Josh does

   Even though Ethan's school starts almost an hour later.

It's only fair that if Ethan has to work on Scouts each day that Josh must too.

   Even though Josh has already earned his Eagle.

It's only fair that if Josh does homework for 4 hours each night that Ethan does too.

  Even though Ethan doesn't have that much to do.

It goes on and on . . . . .

All because Ethan didn't think it was fair he did some jobs that Josh doesn't.

My kids hate the word FAIR now too.

I think fair is too closely related to justice.

When my life is over here, I don't want to be judged with the qualities of FAIR or JUSTICE in mind.

I want MERCY!

I want more than what I deserve.

But to get that, I should be willing to accept that sometimes other people will get more than they deserve too.

Sometimes, I don't know the whole story and am looking at what's FAIR with clouded eyes.

Meanwhile, the boys have new job charts this week. 

They are FAIR!

The boys are unhappy. . . .

I'm chuckling.