Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

Since early childhood, I have witnessed countless adults being cruel and hostile, abusing and mistreating people, yet still demanding respect from them, even reverence, simply because of their job title, their age, family

relation or military rank.

As a rebellious teenager, my first tattoo was of the word equality,

to remind myself to never look down on anyone or look up to anyone. I refused to play the hierarchy game regardless

of what anyone has achieved in their life if they haven't mastered common decency first.

That sounds about right for a rebellious teenager doesn't it?

Later in life as a paralegal I chose to work at firms where the lawyers saw me as a

colleague not a subordinate and even at the monastery I valued the

residents who still considered themselves students after living there for many years,

instead of walking around all high and mighty. Many of the Buddha's teachings align with the concepts of fairness and justice.

It turns out that equality, which has been so central to my values is not the most

considerate approach after all. When it comes to fairness equity is

significantly more inclusive than equality because equity takes everyone's unique circumstances into consideration.

Equity, not equality, ensures a reasonable, suitable, and ethical approach.

My equality tattoo may have been a virtuous intention at 18, but now I know it wasn't

comprehensive enough. A common distinction between equity and equality is of a neighborhood with 10 houses on it, where only one house is on fire.

Equity means all of the buckets of water are to be directed to the burning house,

whereas Equality means every house on the block gets a bucket of water regardless of need.

In that scenario and so many others, equality no longer sounds that virtuous at all. There will inevitably be neighbors

on the block whose house is not on fire saying it's not fair that they're not getting a bucket of

water as well. But as Gandhi said, there is enough on this earth for

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