“Once the game is over, the King and the pawn go back in the same box.”
–Italian Proverb

Today’s quote is a great commentary on status and that final equalizer, death. It doesn’t matter whether we’re rich or poor, female or male, lazy or hard working, successful or bumbling, Donald Trump or Rosie O’Donnell, eventually all of us will breath our last breath.

You see in spite of Thomas Jefferson’s lovely sentiment we are not all created equal. It’s an empowering idea, to be sure. It’s the kind of thing that inspires a nation to seek it’s independence.

But it is simply not true.

In fact we are hardly equal at all. I’m taller than many folks and at the same time shorter than others. So we aren’t equal in height. Really most of us aren’t even close to equal physically.

Me, I’m not a very fast runner. Nor am I particularly handy when it comes to fixing things.

We all have differences in education, work ethic, economic resources, ethical understanding, and family size. We’ve all heard different messages when we were growing up, were given different amounts of encouragement to pursue our passions, and had different options presented to us along the way.

And that’s not to say that folks can’t overcome some serious handicaps in any or all of these areas to accomplish tremendous things. Or that folks of great privilege never experience big falls.

That old investment disclaimer always applies. “Past performance does not guarantee future returns.”

However, in spite of all of our immense inequalities that proverb above is true. When it’s all said and done, each of us will end up effectively in the same box. The probability of each of us dying is exactly 1. It is one way each and every one of us is created equal.

Think about that the next time you pass someone on the highway with a much nicer car than yours. Or one that is nowhere nearly as nice. Or someone who doesn’t even have a car.

Think about what really is important when it’s all said and done.

–Chris Cree, SuccessCREEations