Let’s be clear,
I completely believe in
Equal rights.
Note though that I said
Equal,
Not special,
Not women’s,
Not anything,
But equal.
That each of us
Have equal rights
As members of
The human family.
Every last one of us
Can claim oppression.
So yes, voting for someone
“Because she’s a woman,”
Is sexism.
And voting for someone
“Because he’s black,”
Is racism.
Hell, I voted for a black woman,
Not because of any identity issue,
But because she spoke the truth.
You see, where the basics of Humanity
Begin to breakdown
Is when we classify ourselves
Into categories.
That we identify by
Gender, or color
or status
Creating a tiered system
of Superiority
and Inferiority
And when that happens
We begin to disregard
The other person’s
Human rights
as an equal
And say,
“Because I am this
and you are that,
I have a right,
but you don’t.”
This is the very foundation
of disrespect,
Where relationships
Quickly disintegrate.
This is exactly
How wars get started.
If we dropped our identities and simply accepted that every single person has the right to exist; that the space they are occupying, at any given moment is rightfully theirs, for we all must be someplace; that we all have the right to self-determination; that we each have a right to decide the course and direction of our own lives, without hindrance from any god, government, or entity!
That, at its core, is the very definition of freedom.
If we hold it dear and true for ourselves, then we must hold it equally dear and true for everyone else, without exception.
An injustice to even one
is an injustice to all.
On this planet, there is a line drawn in the sand. On one side are the owners – and it is not just some mythical one percent that pull the strings in the shadows, it is every one of us, who buy into the faulty rational of the owner, where a lack of morality is justified by the declaration of property.
Where the unacceptable becomes acceptable, because of the words, “I own.”
Where the basic respect and dignity we offer each other as equals is disregarded in order for someone who has to impose their will upon someone who has not.
The good parent teaches their children to share.
On the other side of the line we have the proletariat
Those who find themselves having
Less and less and less,
with more people telling them
what they’re doing wrong,
which rules they’re breaking,
When the only real crime is poverty itself.
We are all victims of capitalism.
The only difference between any of us is
on which side of the line we choose to stand
at any given moment.
When we come to realize
that all property
all possessions
are merely temporal,
that we really,
truly own nothing
other than our physical beings
and that, only for a number of years,
that the relationships
and community
that we cultivate in this life
are the only things of any true value
much more than any object
or piece of dirt
that we could ever possibly own,
At that moment,
peace is possible.
