I don’t have ‘hands free’ in my ute. So, I do not talk on the phone when I am driving (for various reasons besides being illegal). But I consistently see other drivers engaged in the ‘one hand steering’ mode because the other is busy cradling their phone…

It gives me the shits.

…And then I have to cool off by reminding myself that what other drivers do is none of my business. But something sets off this feeling of ‘rage’, and I think the culprit is the sense of fairness. I just don’t think that is fair for me to miss out on the phone call while other drivers can do the exact opposite, break the law and get away with it!

In the 17^th Century, when the Americans trailed across the country into the west with their wagon trains, they could only travel as fast as the slowest wagon. They could have gone faster – but the sense of fairness made the fast wagons slow down to the pace of the last struggling wagon.

Yet, when we race on Sunday, the pace of the race is not set by the slowest rider. It is the fastest riders who set the pace. It may not be fair for the struggling riders who get ‘spat’ out the back, but this is racing.

Life is just like a bike race. It is not supposed to be a procession of wagons hamstrung by slow wheels. Innovations, breakthroughs and human advancements are only possible if we let the pace makers forge ahead at their own pace (you could even say that is not fair for them if they are held back – but that is another story).

Fairness has become an industry and we even have a government department called the ‘Office of Fair Trading’. The continuing Lance Armstrong saga is shrouded in the cloak of fairness. Our whole legal system is supposed to dish out fairness to the community.

But fairness is a battle never to be won.

Now, when I see a driver wandering down the road with a phone stuck to their ear – I just say to myself “Good luck to you”. Because, there is truth in the saying – “All is fair in love and war”.