Good morning from a sunny Vancouver. I’ve been thinking about ‘fairness’ recently, and have been reminded of an important lesson I learned from a few years ago.

When we talk about ‘fairness’ we need to be sure about what we mean, and how the word is understood by others. There are two ways of defining “fair” and it is likely useful for each of us to recognize which is our default understanding. So let’s imagine that we have a pie, and there are 9 people who want a piece. How do we divide it ‘fairly’? Think for a moment, how would you divide it?

For many of us, we’ll default to cutting smaller pieces so that all 9 get ‘something’.

For others of us, we’ll wonder is there some criteria by which we might distribute various pieces to some, but not necessarily all 9 people. So for example, we might say the people who made the pie get served first, or the people who were first in line, or the people who worked hardest today, or the people who are hungriest.

When you distribute the pie ‘fairly’, make sure that everyone understands the definition of fairness you used.

And so this week, may each of us find moments of clarity both as distributers and receivers of pies.

And a wonderful Easter and Passover to us all…