Words of Separation

We are all humans that inhabit this earth together. No matter what you believe this fact is true. People, persons, members of the human race.

We are confined by the words we use to describe or define one another. They bind us into our own body and them into theirs. Separation that spreads through language. I and you, me and him. All humans, but this fact seems over looked. Just as it takes two separate "I"s to make a we or us and even the isolating words "they" or "them".

It seems we begin to begin the separation process when we first come into contact with "others". They are male or female, they are tall, short, they are nerdy, weird, cool, funny. Depending on the arrogance involved you may define them as incompetent, over confident, ignorant or brilliant, good or bad. Some of these words are considered "good" and we wish to be described us as smart or intelligent. These words are not flexible as they build the walls of judgment around even the people we hold most dear. The judgment is simply categorization, confining people to specific personality traits. It is difficult in the English language to describe exactly who a person is. A person can be good while doing "bad" things. Just as bad things happen to good people. A person can be smart while making stupid choices, just as someone who is generous with their money can be selfish with their time. Just as an American can come from Mexican decent. Just as an Iraqi Muslim can fall in love with a Christian Brit and join her church just to be with her. We allow that people can do the "unexpected" to make up for the inconsistencies in our categorizations and we even allow for people to move categories if we find we have misjudged them. People move from friends to enemies with the simple drop of a bomb or a plane crashed into a tower.
They are Muslim.
They are Buddhist.
They are Jew.
They are African (which is funny because it is a freaking continent).
They are French.
They are Indian.
They are American.
They are African-American.
They are Asian-American.
They are Native American. Black. White. Yellow. Brown. Purple....
Funny how separate words can make us. A person can be kicked out of a country by a simple word applied to their being--Mexican--illegal ALIEN--we go as far as to change their species.

We love to distinguish ourselves from one another--especially to raise ourselves above. To be one step higher on the platform to be one step ahead of the Jones'. They are weak, uneducated, DIFFERENT. People can be turned into property to be bought and sold or just given away or stolen.

Words bind people to countries/nations--non existent lines created by the people to keep "them" out. Who's them? The other PEOPLE? The OTHER humans? How much difference does it take to forget where we all come from? How many philosophical walls must we build to keep ourselves from them, the others?

I would claim that our isolation exists only in our heads--that we are not separate beings, but closely connected to one another through the human experience. Our actions do affect one another from the personal to the political. My choices today will affect the future generations whether by the children I choose or do not choose to have. By the books I write or don't. By the generous smile I give or don't. By the piece of sand I pick up in the middle of a desert and move just a little to the right. Anyone who believes he or she is alone if fooling themselves by choosing to live in a false reality where everyone is confined by imaginary walls built by the words that man created to simplify, categorize, and separate the human race.

These thoughts have been formed through my own personal considerations and belief and are not knowingly plagiarized from another source.


Pictures found from:
http://www.freedomagenda.com/images/1989-11-09_People_freed_from_communist
_East_Germany_for_first_time_in_40_years_as_the_Berlin_Wall_is_torn_down_November_11_1989.jpg

http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/tours/germany/gifs/berlinwall.jpg