At some point, we’ve got to face it: we’ve become a society so obsessed with equality that we’re creating a generation of wimps. Don’t get me wrong; I’m eternally grateful that something is being done against racism, sexism, and hatred toward the LGBTQ community. But there is a line that separates righting past wrongs and creating new ones, and we have crossed it.

Life isn’t fair.

It isn’t fair that people with degrees are working minimum-wage jobs while entrepreneurs who took the risk to skip that college step are raking in the dough. It isn’t fair that mentally challenged and highly advanced students don’t get the personalized attention they need in school. Hell, it isn’t fair that you and I have the internet connection to be reading articles on this site when there are millions of people who simply can’t.

That doesn’t mean, however, that every kid who shows up to the baseball tournament should get a participation ribbon. It especially doesn’t mean that every game should end in a tie. You all didn’t win. In fact, most of you didn’t win.

Does everyone who shows up to work get paid the same amount? No.

Should they? Absolutely not. Larger investments yield larger returns. You get what you give.

So as we keep coddling our kids and telling them that they’re equal to everyone else, we’re forgetting to prepare them for failure. If they were truly equal to everyone who auditioned for the school play, they would have made it. If they were equal to everyone applying to his/her top choice college, they would have been accepted. Instead of gently telling them that they will sometimes fail in and why, we’re teaching them to stamp their feet like toddlers because they’re used to getting what everyone else has, and we chalk it up to Because It’s Not Fair. After all, “everyone is equal,” (even though we aren’t). Someone will always be prettier, smarter, wealthier, you name it. It’s a fact of life.

What do we do about it, then? Something. Do something. Go back to school, pursue a career that will make you happy, and cut ties with toxic people and habits. The world is full of opportunities. And while life may not be fair, it’s pretty great when you fall in love with the life you’re living.