***
If you give a fish
to a dragon,
they’ll eat it.
If you give a fish
to a demon,
they’ll torture it.
If you give a fish
to a witch
she’ll think
she’s equal to the dragon
cuz she’ll eat it too.
But the dragon
will throw the whole thing in their mouth
or maybe rip it in half
or maybe poke its eyes a couple times first
then swallow it whole
and the witch will
skin it
build a fire
cook it
cut it with a knife–
plus maybe a fork
if she’s feeling fancy–
then eat it
over a couple meals
depending on the fish’s size.
Equality says
everyone gets a fish.
Equity says
everyone gets enough meals
to get them through the day,
in which case
only the mortal witch requires a fish.
(Why do dragons eat? Cuz they like it, obviously. Cuz it’s easier to get energy they need
from eating
than from air, or water, or sunlight. So it’s debatable, actually, if the dragon requires a fish or not,
since their other ways of absorbing energy are less efficient,
but that’s a debate for a different day,
as well as why dragons require an intake of energy
to act
but demons don’t
when both are immortal.)
Or maybe, equity says
time
is a more important resource
than food,
so let’s ensure
everyone
has the same amount of time to study–
therefore,
since the witch has to cook her food,
and the dragon and demon don’t,
the staff should either
cook the witch’s food for her
or give the dragon and demon more chores.
Or do both–
the chore can be
cooking the witch’s food
with her.
But three beings
cooking a fish
is inefficient,
that’s too many wings and tails and fingernails
around the fire
and the witch
is most likely
to get stabbed
or burned
and have to spend time
healing herself
and that’s not fair either
but really,
we’re missing sight
of the end goal
here:
everyone
deserves to graduate
in the same time frame
with the same amount of knowledge and skill
so if the witch can cook her meals and learn faster
it’s still fair
but ha
no way
the human witch will ever
learn magic
as fast as the demon
or even the dragonling witch
or the imp witch
so
screw equity
they’ve all technically, basically got eternity anyway,
what’s the real difference
between seventy-something years in school
versus thirty or ten?
Well.
When you come back
for a visit
hundreds of years down the line
after spending seventy-something years there,
most of the teachers
still remember you.
Jordyn Saelor 