You are in the blocks at the start of an obstacle relay. In the stands, thousands of cheering fans. Beside you, another runner, swift of foot and powerful in stature takes the blocks.
The starter steps up to the line. “At the sound of the gun, you will start,” he says. “Lane 2, you will have a delayed start. You will go at the sound of the second shot.”
The person in the blocks next to you looks at the starter. “Wait, what?” The starter raises his pistol and begins to speak over the runner’s objections. “On your mark…get set…”
The pistol fires and you are out of the blocks. As you run off at top speed, you can hear the other runner objecting. “What’s happening? Why does he get a head start?” before you get out of earshot.
You are well in the lead, as the second runner hasn’t even got his signal. You reach the first obstacle, a ladder to the top off a wall. You scrabble over it. Then, a rope swing over mud. Then a series of poles sticking out of water. Each one progressively harder.
Finally, well behind, you hear the shot, letting you know that the other runner is finally starting. But you are nearly to the second runner, and make the hand off.
You wait for what seems like an eternity before the other runner comes around the corner. He is running like the very wind, determined and focused. He is about to make the hand off to his team’s second runner, when a track official steps out. “You are not going to be allowed to run on the track,” he says to the other runner. “Your path lies that way.”
The runner looks at him. “But there is no track that way. It goes through the forest, and out of the stadium before returning. It is at far longer and even more difficult than the course ahead.”
The track official just looks at him. “Still, that is the path you must run.”
He drops his head for a second, then looks back at his fast-approaching team-mate. His eyes harden, a determined set to his jaw, he begins to jog and takes the hand-off, then jumps the fence and disappears into the forest along his allotted path.
You look ahead at your teammate, who is a speck in the distance. There is no way the second runner will catch him.
You are the third runner on your team. You see your team’s second runner approaching in the distance, but there is still time. You lean over to the track official and say, “so what happens with this guy?” you whisper and point at the runner in lane 2. “Does he have to run with his laces tied? Crawl?”
The official looks at you. “No, he will run the same route, on the same track. The path is equal. Both runners have an equal opportunity. It wouldn’t be fair, otherwise.”
And then he winks at you, and you realize there is no disadvantage for him, save for the disadvantage of history. You have a giant head start on him. There is no way he can catch up, despite the appearance of things being fair. You take the baton from your teammate when and run off towards the fourth and final runner. There are more obstacles, each, progressively more difficult, but each you are able to conquer, though some only barely.
When you arrive, a little worse for wear, though, there is a track official standing there, between you and your teammate. “Hold, hold up please,” he says.
“What’s going on?” You say.
“We have been reviewing the footage, and it appears that there have been some gross transgressions.”
“What do you mean?” you ask.
“It has not been fair,” the official says. “The first two legs of this race put the other team at a gross disadvantage. In an effort to make things fair, we are allowing them to catch up.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” your teammate says. “Why should I be punished for what happened in the past?”
“And how do you know what is fair?” you say. “The first runners on our team could have been naturally faster. If you allow them to catch up, that puts us at a disadvantage.”
“But that’s not my fault,” says your teammate again. “Yet I am the one who has to pay. How can I be expected to win?”
The track official looks at him. “Have you looked at the path ahead?”
Both you and your team mate look forward, and the route is obscured by fog. “Where is the path?” your teammate asks.
“Ahead,” the official replies.
“But what is the route?”
“You will have to find your own way. From here on in, the path is a mystery.”
“But where is the finish line?”
The official points. “That way.”
“But how far?”
He shrugs. “Nobody knows. Beyond this point, the path is unknown. You can see shadows and glimpses, but from here on out, you have to find your own way.”
Your teammate looks a little scared. “You mean, I’m on my own?”
The track official just smiles. “Of course not. That’s why we’re pausing the race, to let the other runner catch up.”
“But how am I expected to win?”
The track official looks at him oddly. “Who said that was the goal?”
Now it’s your teammate’s turn to look confused. “What do you mean? It’s a race. The goal is to win. That’s the whole point of a race.”
“But it’s not a race,” says the official. “Or rather, it doesn’t have to be.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is only a race if you choose to make it one. And you can strike out blindly to see how far you can get on your own. But you might want to have the other runner beside you. To help you overcome obstacles, and help if you get lost”
“But that’s not the way it happened in the past,” you chime in. “I ran the race by myself, and it got me here safely and in good order.”
The track official turns to you. “But that was the past, you see.” He points down the track. “And that is the future. As you say, you got here fine on your own, but have you stopped to wonder how well you might have done if you had worked together.”
Below are a couple videos I watched while writing this. The second does a fair job of explaining the socio-economic bonds that are still laid upon a lot of people in North America. Yes, I know, counter-examples abound, of privileged people who don’t share the same skin colour as you; of impoverished people who do. The point remains; perhaps if we viewed life less as a competition and more as a way to figure out our collective way into the future, we would all be a step or two farther along.
