See the frightened animal that just doesn’t know any better

What if everyone we met was just as human as we were?

What if we were all just wounded animals trying to heal ourselves as we sit alone in dark corners?

What if people deserved to be treated with dignity, regardless of their current circumstances?

What if every individual you engaged with was just a brokenhearted warrior striving to be a little bit better each day?

There’s no way prove any of these claims. It’s just something we have to take on faith. We have to be willing to awaken from our nightmare of separation, as if we were different from each other somehow.

Wearing a nametag everyday helps me in this regard. Every time somebody engages with me, even if only for a moment, it’s a small but powerful reminder that if we all wore nametags, it would be impossible to put each other into boxes. We’d no longer have to address each other by a label, job, condition, color, ethnicity or role. We’d simply say people’s names and honor the truth instead of degenerating into depersonalization.

We could finally unite through personhood, not position or preference.

After 22 years of this sticky insanity, there is no doubt in my mind that nametags enable greater comfort, connection and humanity in our relationships.

What’s your version of that? How do you force yourself to stop viewing certain people as a separate category?

How do remind everybody that we’re all members of the same family? Next time somebody acts in a way that flabbergasts you, remember this. It’s ridiculous not to attribute people’s behavior to something human going on behind the scenes.

If we can train ourselves to treat each other like human beings with everyday human reasons for their anger and resentment, then our species might actually stick around for a while.

Nametags or not.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How will you awaken from your deep sleep of separation?