As humans, I imagine, it is human nature when viewing the sights and sounds around us…to try and understand who we are and all the wonders that surround us.
To do this we attach labels to everything we see…
that’s a cloud, that’s the ocean…that’s a flower…that’s a tree.
These labels are quite useful when used as they’re devised…
to help us understand our world…to keep us organized.
But something happened when we began to label each other…we noticed differences we hadn’t seen before…and suddenly the label human…wasn’t good enough anymore.
Yes, we were all just humans once…I was me and you were you…
until you became a Muslim, me a Catholic, you an immigrant…me a Jew.
Until I was white…you were black…I was yellow…you were red…
and amidst a slew of labels we began to lose our human thread.
The labels became more important…you were fat…I was thin…you were young…I was old and grey…you were French…I was German…you were straight and I was gay.
Labels when used for good are beneficial to you and me…
I have epilepsy…you are nearsighted…I have asthma…you’re gluten-free.
When labels are used wisely (as they were intended) then good is who’ll we’ll be…
but when we use our labels foolishly…it leads to hate and bigotry.
For labels can never tell us what’s inside another human’s heart…
and all bad labels do is push us further and further apart.
Which makes me long for a time when, perhaps, we were a little wiser…
when everyone agreed…
that human…
only human…
is the only label we ever need.
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