I am your stereotypical, soon to be middle aged, white, American man. It is for this reason, that I cannot even begin to imagine what those of color have been through, or are going through in my country. However, I feel the world’s recent events struck a particular chord with who I am. The act of dehumanizing a person, is stripping away their individuality, their positive qualities, their loves, their fears, their joy, their sadness, and reducing them to nothing more that a nameless, faceless thing, much like a number. As you all know, I have suffered from depression for almost my entire life, and it had stripped me of anything and everything that made me human. I was a sorry pile of garbage, listlessly drifting through life, praying that I would meet my end as soon as possible. It is for mainly this reason, that I cannot stand for the dehumanizing of others. Every single living, breathing human being on this planet has a value. They all equally desire life, freedom, and happiness. They shouldn’t have to worry about if they are going to be treated as a human being today, or are they going to be treated as less than the dirt they walk on.

For someone who has absolutely no positive image of themselves, having a large group see them this way as well, often cements this way of thinking for the individual. I am, and always have been, a firm believer in “The Golden Rule”. For those of you who don’t know, the golden rule is a common saying in many religious groups that basically states, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” Though there are quite a lot of sayings about how we should treat others, or “walk a mile in their shoes”. Yet, it often seems that many people are not raised with this core value. Nobody is born with prejudice or hatred, these things are taught and learned. I myself almost fell into this trap, as my father has many prejudices, and I was almost indoctrinated by them. However, once you have been somewhere so dark, so hopeless, you would not wish this kind of suffering on anyone. There was a time, before my treatment, that I worked for a major corporation. It took a while after I was hired, but they little by little stripped away my humanity, until I was nothing more than some id badge, and numbers on their payroll report. I was expected to do whatever they told me to, and if I didn’t, I was easy to replace. I was not allowed to question my directions, I could only keep my head down and work tirelessly from when I clocked in, to when I clocked out (with a measly federally required lunch break of course). It was agonizing, to not only think nothing of myself, but to be also though of as nothing by so many people. I get it, that’s how most corporations are, they are solely concerned with profit, and do very little for the “bottom of the ladder” employees like myself. People have their own jobs to do, mouths to feed, roofs over their heads, etc. I know that they just keep their heads down, earn their paycheck, and dream of a blissful retirement.

So as you can imagine, the way the US has reacted to not only the epidemic, but also the current protests, has ticked many of the same boxes. It is nauseating that there are those that believe the stock market is more important than human lives. It is at the least concerning, at the most down right disgusting, how many people are disregarding the severity of these issues, and disrespecting the millions who have lost their lives to preventable disease and racially driven brutality. It is disturbing to watch what is unfolding here in the states, and around the world, where people take away the humanity of others, to justify their own agenda. My therapist believes me to be hypocritical when I say that every life on this planet matters, when I still don’t truly value my own. While that is certainly true, it is not people disregarding that value that troubles me, it is people actively seeking to remove that value that plagues my thoughts. I guess what I’m trying to say, is ultimately that you should never treat anyone as lesser than yourself, for any reason. We are all given the gift of life for a reason, and we need to act accordingly. To not do so, would be disrespecting the millions of years, and infinitely small chance that culminated in you and I being here today. There is no right in the “us vs them” mentality, rather you should be thinking how to elevate not only yourself, but everyone on this planet, those who came before us, and those who will follow. We need to create a world where all life is sacred, that it is truely a gift to be born on this planet, that we view eachother with love and respect. Otherwise, humanity is doomed.