I've been thinking a lot about humanity lately. Not necessarily all 7.8 billion people – but kind of.
I've been thinking about how too often we don't treat each other with humanity.
How we fail to see the humanity in another person because they are different from us.
Or we think they are different from us.
Or we think that what we perceive to be difference makes them inferior to us. Not as worthy as us. Not as good. Not as important. Not as valuable.
I've been thinking about why we do this so often and with such malice. With such carelessness. With such indifference. With such righteousness. With such vehemence. With such violence.
Why we use political and geographical and racial and ethnic and sexual and religious and social and cultural and socioeconomic and so many other reasons to justify our dehumanization of other people.
I've been thinking about what we humans miss when we dehumanize other humans.
The opportunities. The relationships. The love. The connection. The collaboration. The trust. The compassion. The empathy. The joy. The belonging.
I know when I talk like this, I may sound naive, or woo-woo, or that I'm describing a utopian world that can never exist.
But I don't know. I don't think it's that hard.
To see every person as human. Including ourselves.