All humans are always fully human. It’s not something you can lose, or forfeit.
No one is less important, less human, less real, than anyone else.
We are all worthy of respect, honor, and courtesy.
In spite of skin color. In spite of politics. In spite of gender. In spite of size, age, income level, religion, hair style, clothing choices, presentation, language ability, mental health, intelligence, or anything else you can think of.
This seems completely obvious to me. Yet so many of us seem unable to grasp this simple fact.
So many divide the world into “us” and “them.” “We” are good, worthy, valuable, Real Human Beings™. “They” are evil, demonic, undesirable, untrustworthy, disease-ridden, filthy drains on the economy. The only good “them” is a dead “them.”
Why do people think that?
Can’t we see that all physical characteristics are temporary? Nothing physical lasts more than a lifetime, at most. All of it is just packaging. It has nothing to do with the soul, the shining spirit, inhabiting that body.
Fat people have souls and spirits as bright as the thinnest among us. Trans people have souls and spirits as glorious as any cis person. People of color have souls and spirits as transcendent as white people. Women and men are equally intelligent and capable.
Our similarities far outweigh our differences. We all have feelings.
Can’t we see that everyone, everywhere, has a story we don’t know? We have no idea what drives them to behavior that we, with our very different lives and circumstances, think we would never choose. In their places, we blithely assume, we would make better choices.
But would we? We’ll never know. So how dare we despise them?
Why can’t we see there is no “them?” There is no one here but us.