Creative Piece

The exact date Equality was born is unknown, lost to the ages of time. Even Equality doesn’t know when its birthday is, but it is very old, several centuries old in fact, since Equality was born around 1390. Of course, this was back in the Middle Ages, when kings still reigned and people lived under the feudal system, though at this point in time it was losing force.

When Equality was still a baby, no one bothered it much except to ensure that it was well and would be taken care of. As it grew into a young child, it became popular. Equality was everywhere. People wanted to make sure things were equal to another thing, or wanted to know if items were identical. Equality was very busy for a young child, and didn’t have much time to play. The only amusement it got was when people argued if the items in question were truly equal. It was an important matter to them, no one wanted to be cheated and no one wanted to make (or buy) shoddy work, they wanted work equal to the best in their trade. Equality never really cared about that, it wasn’t relevant to it. All that was important was to help make sure things were equal. Sadly, the arguments sometimes turned into fights, which could get pretty rough. Equality wasn’t very fond fighting, but there was nothing it could do about it. If the items in question were fair, but no one believed it, there was little that could be done to convince them otherwise. Likewise, if the items were unfair but one of the individuals involved convinced the other it was fair, Equality could do little to show that it unequal and had to stand by and watch as one was cheater. Equality hated it; it only wanted things to be equal for everyone. Though it was never actually hit, each time a fight over Equality occurred, it was as if it was it and it felt pain inside, a wound on it's heart if you will.

This was Equality’s life. The most notable part of its childhood was when it was still a toddler. Instead of items being equal in worth or items being identical, it was with people. Unfortunately, since it was so young Equality doesn't always remember the details of what happened. All it knows is that one day a new class came into existence, the gentry, who were called gentleman. It was above the commoners yet below the lords. It vaguely remembers that this class came about because the gentry wanted to be held at the same place as the lords were, but under the old system they didn't have a place so they made a change in the system to be closer to Equality.

As the years passed, things didn't change much. Equality had almost expected there to be some sort of change, with more people trying to become equal but there was little change. Soon those years turned into decades, which in turn turned into centuries. Eventually, Equality’s life changed and it was shocked by how much it changed. It hadn't noticed the slow changes occurring in the world around it, so focused on its task of making sure things were equal, Equality never realized what it was making sure was equal was changing. It  had nearly forgotten the incident with the gentry in its youth. No longer was it items and the values of things, suddenly it was the rights of people. Sure it had happened on smaller scales in its childhood, people struggling within their government to be equal, to be treated better. But it had never really happened on a large scale, entire nations suddenly fighting for Equality.

It was chaos for Equality. It had to be everywhere at once as people fought. This was not something Equality had mastered, and it was often at places with the most people instead of the more isolated places because it didn't have a choice. It was harder to get to isolated places, and though it hurt Equality greatly, it was often away from the places that needed it most.

When people fought, sometimes it was just protests, or a small riot, and those were manageable but in some cases it quickly became war over Equality. One side knew things were unfair and fought for their rights, while the other side refused to see that it was unfair, they had their own justifications for it and Equality couldn’t convince them otherwise. It nearly tore one nation apart, and many lives were lost. Equality hated it, but it could do nothing about it. It could only watch the fighting unfold as people fought for Equality against its wishes. Of course Equality wanted everyone to be equal, but it wanted it without the fighting and the death.

All the fighting for Equality in rights occurred within a short time period, especially considering Equality’s long life. It's life had been slow with little in it, and suddenly within a short period of time it was needed for Equality in color, in nationality, in gender, in marriage. All of which are ongoing struggles for Equality, making it's life suddenly very very busy. It was hard for Equality to adjust to the sudden changes and how rapidly things moved. It was a struggle to adjust and keep up, and do this day Equality is still struggling to keep up as people want more and more of Equality.