Society consists of individuals; no-one lives alone, by and for himself, independent of the rest, but is connected, by threads seen and unseen, to all the other parts. Between the parts, however, are differences in as many areas as we can think of: physically, mentally, economically, culturally, racially, and so on.

     Throughout history, attempts have been made to create ‘classless societies’, in which everyone would be equal, but it wasn’t long before some people became ‘more equal’ than others, and then they were back where they started, or worse!

     Equality is an idea, not a fact; Nature knows nothing of it, but brings forth things in variety and difference; in fact, everything— from largest to smallest—is unique. To talk of ‘equality of the sexes’, for example, is a logical absurdity; male and female are different and complement each other; they can never be equal. There are rich because there are poor, and vice-versa; there is good because there is bad, high because there is low, this because of that, you because of me, etc. And if we are to overcome the problems facing us, we must first see how things depend upon other things.

     When Jesus was criticized for fraternizing with ‘publicans and sinners’, he responded: "Those who are healthy need not a physician, but those who are sick’. We cannot turn our backs on the problems of society, saying that it’s not our business; we are society, whether we like it or not, and if society’s boat sinks, we will sink with it!