Giving Credit To Others Is Important And Makes For A Fairer World

Why you should raise your hand for those who can’t

Image by Tehzeeb Kazmi

I am obsessed with fairness. Ever since I was a kid, injustice has been the one thing I cannot tolerate. It isn’t that I work hard finding social issues here and there. Not at all. It isn’t that I stand at some moral high ground from where I survey others and judge them based on my righteousness. I wouldn’t dream of it. It’s all the small acts of injustice at a raw human level that have always rubbed me the wrong way.

The bully. The cheat. The abuser. The lazy bum. A kid has to give his sandwich to a bigger kid to save his ass. Someone wins a game by hiding all the bad cards they were dealt. A boss intimidates a worker and coerces them to do extra hours for free. A colleague hides in the crowd and benefits from the hard work (and stress) of their workmates. This is the sort of thing that drives me mad. Never mind those who hurt others because they can. I’ve never considered myself violent, but this lot surely put that consideration to the test.

Unfairness can be blatant, but most of the time it can be hard to spot, particularly when it comes to giving and taking credit. Credit is everywhere in our lives. At work, in school, wherever you spend most of your day, credit is likely being traded left…