Member-only story
All Things Being Equal…
Languages are our most precious resources. They’re our means, mostly, of expressing ourselves to others, of getting across them our past, present, and future. It’s also a way to feel part of a group.
I started playing disc golf, or frisbee golf, as a child, and picked it back up in 2002. I was in my late 20s and doing a whole “back to my childhood” thing, examining what had made me happy back then. In 2008, I started playing tournaments and learned there was a whole lingo to the sport. Hyzers and anhyzers and flicks and forehands, with multiple plastic types and different flight characteristics for each disc. Just like in the factory, with all the industry-specific terms one has to know and agree on in order to function effectively. In order to be part of the group.
I hate when words get overused. Their meaning becomes diluted, just like the effect of a curse word when it’s used multiple times per sentence. I fear that’s what’s happening with equality. It makes sense that people are vigorously defending their rights, because they can feel them being whittled away. Even if they can’t explain how.
Equality is the goal we haven’t reached and one we probably won’t, completely, in the grand scheme of things. It’s the striving that counts. Equality is a right, but it’s also a burden. It’s a daily chore, and some days it’s okay to leave it at “Good enough.”…
