We Are All Humans. Everything Else is an Adjective

Last night at the dinner table, my daughter and I had a conversation about the term gender fluid.

I admitted that I didn’t know enough about it to have an opinion; but that my gut reaction to it was that it didn’t make sense to me.

This morning I took the time to read up on it so that I could form an opinion about it. Turns out that I didn’t have a full understanding of what the term means.

Now that I do I can understand and appreciate the term. I know Emily will appreciate our follow up conversation.

Combine that with people identifying themselves in all sorts of ways and the rampart racism in the world and it got me thinking.

We are ALL humans. It is a constant and a known fact.

Everything else is an adjective.

Stop and think about that for a moment.

Common adjectives include what religion someone practices, the color of their skin, whom they have sex with or where they were born.

But, don’t we each also choose some of our own adjectives?

I live in Massachusetts, but quite often identify myself as being from New Hampshire or as a New Englander because that is what I identify most with.

There are passionate arguments in all directions right now over current events.

I’ve seen the same people accept someone saying they are a different sex than they were born and then turning around to shame another who says they are a different race than they were born.

I know many would say those are two different things, but are they?

If you were to ask my kids what nationality they are, they love to say “Chinese Italian” and they always get strange looks. Those are two nationalities in their heritage, but there is also a smorgasbord of others that we know from tracing our genealogy but those are the two they choose.

There are so many adjectives that I’ll never know what it feels like to have associated with me.

As a male, white, overweight, religious, middle-class, brunette, middle-aged, straight human I can’t understand many other adjectives, but I try to accept them all.

If you don’t agree with or understand something you shouldn’t hate it.

Humans should treat all other humans better than we are these days,  independent of anything else.

We are all stuck on this big blue marble together and it would be a lot less painful and sad if every human learned a bit more compassion and tolerance for those who have different adjectives associated with them.

We can’t keep hurting, holding back and killing each other because we are different.

Take the time today to learn about those that you don’t understand or know about.

Yes, I’m over simplifying things because sometimes that is what is needed get through to the people who need to understand it the most.