The heart of fairness is justice, something man has wrestled with since time began. If we are to accept the Scriptures, man expropriated this faculty of judging when given the choice of obeying God or listening to Satan. He desired the knowledge of good and evil, something that was God's prerogative. He has paid the price ever since.

Many thousands of years into our journey it remains elusive, needing to be rethought and applied in every generation. In order to do this, freedom and discrimination are essential. The Greek thinkers saw their role as leaders of the people, virtuous men determining right action on their behalf and ruling them in order to effect this understanding. Above all freedom of thought and speech. It was a democracy in that the leaders were chosen by the people and all could attend the debates. Virtue necessitated self-rule, resisting the temptation to accrue honour and wealth for oneself in the desire for the greater good.

It would seem that a demand for equality can negate discrimination as each man is a law unto himself and will brook no limits to his freedom. No common standards will be tolerated, no criteria accepted. It may not always appear so but this is lawlessness at its height.

At the heart of good government is mutual respect, not easy to achieve with our innate tendency to self-honour and self-gratification. We have a drive to judge and condemn our neighbours, not according them their rights to speech, thought and action. It is a delicate balance to maintain and seldom lasts for long. Recognition and acceptance are the core qualities.

Thus it would seem that a fair future for all starts with leaders of such a caliber as to inspire trust and respect. If our politicians have no self-respect nor accord this respect among them selves, what hope is there of good government. Our newly-elected coalition stands or falls on this issue. There is great potential for this respect but everythig to loose if it fails to materialise.

We are known as the Me-generation rather than the We-generation. Woe betide us if we fail to make the change. The future hangs on a knife edge. Let us hope that the tipping point will drive us into each other's arms rather than over the cliff to self-destruction.