That's Not Fair!

Connie, Oscar, and Donna sit glumly at the counter of Whit's End on a Friday afternoon, and when John Whittaker asks what the problem is, all three answer at once: people are treating them unfairly. Connie goes first. That morning her mother, June, scolded her for talking on the phone with Marcy instead of getting dressed for school, called her room a disaster, and handed her a list of chores longer than her arm - watering the lawn, folding clothes, taking out the garbage, and doing the dishes Connie had already put away the night before. Oscar is next. His older brother Tony refused to take him along on a camping trip to Forest Mountain no matter how much Oscar begged, because the trip was for Tony and his friends and a kid brother would just get in the way, and when Oscar appealed to his mother, she said no too, since Tony is older. Donna is sure her story beats them both. Her teacher, Mr. Zachary, stepped out of the classroom after telling everyone to read about the Bill of Rights, and though Donna kept trying to read while Jessie whispered to her about a boy named Rory, it was Donna he overheard talking when he returned. He assigned her a three-page report due Monday, counting toward her grade, and would not even let her explain.

Whit tells them they are all overreacting, since he has only heard their sides of the stories. But if fair treatment is what they want, he has an idea: an experiment. He will ask their parents and teacher to treat them absolutely fairly for the next few days, no more and no less, and they will all meet back Monday afternoon to compare notes. The three accept eagerly, though Whit warns them it may not turn out the way they think.

It does not. June has stopped waking Connie up in the mornings, since Connie never wakes her up, has left her to fix her own breakfast, and has handed her a bill for her share of the food, rent, and utilities, payable out of her paycheck. Oscar's father agreed it is only fair for a younger brother to go wherever an older brother goes - which means Oscar has spent the weekend taking his own little brother, Henry, along to Whit's End, to his friend's house, even to Wonder World, while Tony's big camping trip lasted a single night. And Mr. Zachary apologized to Donna for not hearing her out, then opened his ledger and showed her why the report still stands: she has not handed in one assignment on time all semester, so when it comes to schoolwork he has been more than fair.

Whit admits he had a pretty good idea how the experiment would go, because he once felt the same way himself. Being treated with absolute fairness, he explains, would mean getting exactly what we deserve for everything we do - including every sin - and he would much rather depend on God's grace than demand fairness. Connie, Oscar, and Donna see his point, and Donna asks him to call her teacher and the parents so they can come to see it that way too.