Fair as Caught The phrase, “that’s not fair,” has been used by every person that I encounter in life. The response might have been to a parent that wanted the toys picked up that a sibling left out. It might have been the teacher sending the boys to the back of the lunch line every day because he was teaching the boys to be gentlemen. Whatever the case may be there is no way around that phrase. To describe something as fair someone may use a whole list of alternate definitions, and most are words that mean the same thing. Dictionary.com has thirty-one different definitions for the word fair or other versions. The definitions offered by dictionary.com I deem best resembles my definition of the word fair are, “free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice,” and “legitimately sought, pursued, done, given.” Simply put something that is fair deserved without question. Fairness then can be defined as a state of being fair. The suffix on the end denotes the action, but the meanings carry over between the words. Everywhere there is life people are faced with tough situations that cause action to be done. The key is when those decisions are made and penalties are required, that fairness is not just the punishment. Fairness to oneself is much greater than the penalty because when someone realizes their wrongs they are being fair to themselves. Everything that happens in my life I have the opportunity to flash back and say to myself, “that wasn’t fair,” or “Wow I got really lucky for that fair outcome.” One story particularly stands out in my mind where I was very fortunate. A few years ago in high school, while on the junior varsity baseball team, with a bunch of my buddies (teammates) we decided to perform some in some less than legal behavior. Before I get into the details of the story I will fill in the background. Our team just completed a double header, winning both games, and was really excited for the night. We all ate together and began to plan on what we would do. Nothing came up with our other friends because they were all too busy the next day. Earlier in the day one of my friends grabbed a few collapsible road signs from the sidewalk of a road that had just be repaved and reopened. We decided it would be a great idea to take those signs out to the four lane highway that ran through town. Together we began to scheme an escape plan just in case we faced any trouble. With a caravan that consisted of two cars we would place the signs in both lanes. The first car, which was full, threw the first one out in the grassy median. Then they placed themselves into position to watch the outcome. Next the second car (I was in) pulled up on the shoulder and I jumped out with the other sign. I placed the signs in each lane with two of the four legs positioned on the white outside line on each (basically there was a big enough lane to drive in the middle). By this time it was about ten thirty at night and I was hiding on the hill next to the road in the weeds. The first lights were dead ahead and it was a semi! Luckily the driver saw the signs and drove through the middle of them no problem. All my friends were disappointed and texted me to move them closer to the center of the lanes. As I received a the text a bigger problem arose. The next car following the semi was the local cop car. His lights turned on and he pulled over. He stepped out of the car very angry cursing at the starry night sky. I was sitting the weeds alone guilty as charged so I took off running. For some reason he did not hear or see me take off, but he spotted my friend’s car. We were in big trouble. My friends in frantic forgot our story we made up before and all told different sides. I was called into the police station about a half hour after I saw the cop pull over and finish off our plans. None of us were eighteen at that time so we had to call our parents to come and get us. Each person took their turn being questioned by the officer. In the end he decided not to charge us with any legal charges or punishment. That did not make the difference with our parents, but the officer thought he was making the fair decision for our crime. I thought so too at the time because we were really lucky not to face charges.
Looking back now it is not the fact I was not charged with anything or forced into legal punishment, the true fair thing I took from my story is the lesson learned. Fairness is not always a creation of crime and punishment, but rather fairness is something for me to learn about myself. I learned the decisions I made that night were stupid and careless. Ever since that point in life I started really grow up. Many kids are naive for so long with the mindset they will never get caught or get in trouble. Most of my life I have been very fortunate, and that one summer night included. That night made me step back and realize I need to start being fair to my future. Fairness does not come when someone is disciplined; it comes when the lesson behind the discipline is learned.