Assignment #2
 "In truth it is inequality that is the illusion. The extreme disproportion between men, that we seem to see in life, is a thing of changing lights and lengthening shadows. A twilight full of fancies and distortions....It is the experience of men that always returns to the equality of men; it is the average that ultimately justifies the average man. It is when men have seen and suffered much and come at the end of their elaborate experiments, that they see men under an equal light of death and daily laughter; and none the less mysterious for being many..."
 What Chesterton is trying to say is that the idea of that inequality exists is false. He says this because as the times change so do the people living with in them. People adapt to what is going on around them, he uses changing lights and lengthening shadows to express that concept. So because the environment in which people live in change and their nature changes as well what was once deemed right and wrong has now also changed. Chesterton then goes on to say that "It is when men have seen and suffered much and come at the end of their elaborate experiments, that they see men under an equal light of death and daily laughter..." and what he means by this is that people need to go through the same struggles. They need to sweat and bleed together before they will be able to call someone a comrade. Most people are friends with people or just connect better with people who have been and seen the same things as them. Once a person has gone through the deeps of hell they will only fully respect a person who has traversed it as well.
I choose this quote because I agree with what Chesteron is trying to say but at the same time I disagree. I agree that people consider anyone who has gone through or even walked the same path as an equal. Most people do not respect someone who in their eyes has not experienced enough. For example a new guy at work will not be respected as much by the veterans because he is new. They will consider themselves superior to him and thus they will not associate with him. This will change when he is around them longer and shows his worth. When work becomes hectic and the new guy and the old veterans are all suffering and working tirelessly, in the eyes of the veterans that new guy has earned his position. When people go through the same things, share the same experiences, and suffer together they can truly consider their fellow man an equal. What I disagree with is that he considers inequality a illusion. That is false because if that were true why do poor people who acquire wealth, by any method, look down upon those who are that level they were once on. Inequality is real and shared experiences is just one pillar that supports that bridge.