My Plea, My Yawp

The time of making is upon us all.  There is no more reason to tear things down, to divide each other and pit ourselves against our brothers and sisters.  We all want the same things: to be healthy, to be happy, to have a job that pays us enough money to buy housing, transportation, food, healthcare, clothing, heat and air conditioning.  At the very least, most of us want these things. We want to take care of our families.  Some of us want to help our neighbors in need.  But fundamentally, we want to survive and live a decent life filled with opportunities.

Beyond that, every human being has blood that runs through their veins.  We all piss and poop.  We eat and sleep.  At the end of our lives, our bodies die and over time are reduced to a pile of dust.  No one escapes this fate.  This is our reality.  We are here temporarily.

What then will we choose to do with our few years on this planet?  Will we deny our brothers and sisters the same wishes that we have for ourselves?  Will we force an image upon our brothers and sisters that makes them seem somehow different from ourselves?  We might choose to focus on our common humanity and all our similarities instead.  We might hold compassion in our hearts rather than contempt for "others."

If we are to focus on the commonalities between us, then we must fix that focus on the reprehensible characters that we revile. Hillary Clinton.  Donald Trump.  Muslims.  Native Americans.  Women. Wall Street executives.  The poor.  It becomes challenging.

Yet I know in my heart of hearts that we are capable of doing this.  We can be unified in our common humanity.  We can rejoice in the creative spirit that resides in each of us.  We must look beyond the illusion that some would try and create: the illusion that there exists a more deserving group of people, a more privileged group.  We are all privileged.  It is a privilege to be alive in this moment.  And the next.  And the next.  Every breath we take is a miracle.  Because at any second, something beyond our control could take that ability away from us.  And we would soon be a pile of dust.

So let us celebrate this moment of breathing. This next moment of eating.  This next moment of pooping.  Let us celebrate this moment of hugging, of crying, of leaping.  We are all the same.