Who. R. U.

Who are you?

That’s a pretty big question, I’ll tell you.  I’ve been giving it quite some thought all day.  Early this morning, I wrote and installment here on Kid Wednesday.  I identified myself in many different ways.  Really.    I started off by saying I was a 53-year-old white woman. Gay.    But these are just a couple of identifiers of “who I am” I suppose.

Someone thoughtfully responded that he was a Christian Dairyman.  That was his main identifier.  This gave me great cause for thought.   Then, I wondered what a lot of people might say.  Let’s say… George W. Bush?  Would he say Former President?  Or would he say father, or grandfather?  What about Lady Gaga?  Singer?  Activist?  White woman?  Who?

How would you answer? Right now, if I asked… “Who are you?”

I’m a lot of things, that is for sure.  I am a dedicated partner to the love of my life.  I am a step-mother, and a step-grandmother.  I am a daughter, a sister, a cousin,  a friend.  I am a spiritual being interested in sharing peace.  Animal lover.  Planet lover.  Artist.  Writer.  Photographer.  Juggler.  Athlete.  Humorist.  Food lover.  Puzzle solver.  I’ve “done” a lot of things in my life, from Genealogist to Reporter to Website Developer.

But what part of me is the most important part of me?

I have thought a long time on this.  The answer is:   All of me.  Human me.

Yep.  That is our common thread.  Humans, all are we.  (Actually, I think I’ve run in to a few exceptions, especially here on Facebook. But that is a discussion for another night.)

Humans.  All are we.

As such, that means…. that we are all citizens of the Planet Earth.  We ALL have the same exact right to be here.  We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.  Man, woman, white, black, Christian, Atheist, straight or gay.  All the identifiers.

The United Nations reminds us:  “The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948.”

More than 1 million people (mostly women) got out and marched today, all around the world, because they fear that their human rights are in jeopardy.  I share those same fears.

I don’t fear that someone will take away my right to juggle, or to photograph the world around me.  I DO fear that I will not be afforded the same rights a my male counterparts, or have the same benefits, privileges, and respect, as heterosexuals in the world.   I fear that minorities will be discriminated against, because of race or creed.  These fears have arisen from what I’ve heard, and seen, from our newly elected president.  Not news reports on this.  Not Op-Eds on this.  But actual film footage, of him speaking, proclaiming these words which speak to disrespect and degradation.

And.  Please.   I can’t “get over it.”  These are my life-freedoms being threatened.  Not some minuscule event… like not having cream for my coffee.  THAT… I can “get over.”  But not this.

So.  Who am I?  I am a human being.  One who cares about other human beings,  and the prospect of us finding a common ground, a common peace, a common good.  Respectfully.  Equally. Together.  Here.  On Planet Earth.   Sharing in….a  common and wonderful good.

 

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“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

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Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

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