November’s Character Trait… Fairness
Fairness. Now this is a trait we don’t hear much of but is so crucial to the way a system can work. Being fair is not having any sort of favoritism or prejudice in situations. You are honest and unbiased. Which, as you can tell, is really needed or else circumstances can get out of hand. Fairness is more than just treating everyone fairly, it is also showing that you respect people, you have responsibility and leadership, and that people can trust that you’re making the right decisions. If you treat everyone fairly without someone being treated better or worse than others, people will believe that you’re doing what you do out of pure belief that it is the best thing to do. They will not think that you do certain things to give others an unfair advantage or disadvantage. Let’s look at a few examples.
- Following the rules when playing a game. If everyone doesn’t play the game as intended with the rules set, it becomes unfair and the true winner may be prevented from winning. The rules are there for the game to be fun, true, and fair. If not, people may get frustrated and this can cause a domino effect.
- Accept consequences of behaviors. People must learn that with certain behaviors there will be good or bad consequences. When acting the way you do, it is fair to accept these consequences since they are the results of your actions. If you try to run away from these outcomes, it creates an unfair balance as well as bigger results for you to deal with.
- Listen attentively to people’s views when in a conversation. When you’re in a conversation, the other person will be listening to the things you’re saying closely. So in order to be fair and kind, it’s important to reciprocate this. If you stray from the conversation as the other person is speaking, they may feel neglected and uncared for.
Fairness allows learning to treat others with respect and kindness. With fairness you grow to appreciate the importance of sharing, fighting for others, and being honest. We can place ourselves in other people’s shoes and feel compassion for them when we think “Is this right?” “Is this fair?”. Fairness can be the heart of many other traits and should be valued as we need to be fair in order to keep things in order.
By: Nabiha Hoque
