I'm reading "Fair Society" (at the suggestion of a liberal "book buddy" at work) and once again it strikes me that how you define "fair" makes a huge difference in how you view the world.

The opening parts of the book talks about income and power disparities and "fairness."

If "fair" means equal outcome, regardless of effort, then the world will never be fair. Those who work hardest and risk the most...will not be rewarded for their efforts.

If only the privileged can succeed, then life certainly is unfair....but...

According to Forbes, the person whose income increased the most in 2011 (the most recent year) is Mark Zuckerberg. Although he was in a family of educated people, he was hardly on the tract to billionaire.

Our current president is the son of a middle-class American woman and an African, Muslim, polygamist father. Hardly the stuff that "automatic political success" is made of.

We have free public education, but "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." Is it "fair" to make sure that all graduate, regardless of how they apply themselves at school? Is it "fair" to the kid who works hard to see a forced success rate? It is "fair" to the one who doesn't apply themselves - to teach them that life will hand them success on a plate?

Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama are living proof that life in America IS "fair" - if you apply your skills, if you work hard, if you take big risks, there are big rewards.

Scripture tells us that