Don’t Let Your Identity Get in the Way of Your Humanity

Are you Focused on What Matters Most?

We walk around so proud of our labeled identities: “liberal, spiritual Democrat” or “conservative, religious Republican.” We spend time choosing sides and picking teams: vegan or paleo, vaxxed or unvaxxed, cis male or trans woman. We’re all human beings sharing the same planet. We all have survival needs and the same desires to love and be loved. While diversity is worthy of celebration, putting too much focus on what makes us different from each other may be causing us more harm than good.

Once I realized how divided we were becoming as a country, I made a conscious choice in conversations and writing to de-emphasize self-identifying ethnically, politically, socially, and religiously, for I realized that each time I identified myself as one thing that aligned me closer with one group, it also meant I cut myself off from an aspect that aligned me with another group; and as citizens of the world, we are too cut off from our common humanity.

Underneath all the identities that highlight our individuality, our race, our R.A.C.E. (Religions, Allegiances/Nationalities, Cultural Identities, and Ethnicities) is the one thing we all are: human beings. When we can stop focusing so much on what makes us different, and separate from one another, we can come together as one.

The nature of the entertainment industry is branding, to become some “thing” which is identifiable with you. With the aid of viral videos, we are literally living in Warhol’s prescient world where everyone has the chance for 15 minutes of fame. Many people are searching for that as a form of validation for their relevance and human worth. They believe the more they can be different, the likelier they will stand out and be noticed and as such, feel value and to some extent, survive. (Make a living.) In contrast, the nature of oneness is to release everything we come to attach an identity to that distances us from humanity as a whole. The older I become, the more I desire to be less of who I am that separates my humanity from anyone else’s. This compulsion to be seen as special or unique is dividing us. When we can focus on all our commonalities, we can and will find unity and truly know the meaning of acting on behalf of the “greater good.”

Inspired to Action

When we allow ourselves to really feel the sorrow associated with the fragility of life, we become inspired and emboldened to live life with greater reverence. When we truly revere the life of the person who stands before us, even if we disagree or dislike them, we are neither capable of causing them pain nor allowing them to suffer.

We revere what we value,

and we value what we believe has worth.

If we can see every person as someone worthy and in need of care, we can become our highest and best selves — we can self-actualize in that present moment – and the present moment is all we can sustain. Blaming Democrats or Republicans keeps us in a spiral of destruction and devaluing each other as humans. When we choose instead to focus on how in small exchanges, we can offer presence to people who seem to lack the ability to see the sacred in their lives, let alone in the lives of others, we demonstrate that we see their worth.

Our human worth is not based on who we are but rather that we are. If we exist in this world, we have worth; what we provide to others beyond that—is our value. When we see human worth beyond human value, we are expressing unconditional love. Showing people that we see their worth is just one way we can have a profound impact on preventing their inner hurt to cause outward harm.

When people feel heard, they stop screaming.

No one wants to feel invisible, forgotten, or powerless. Desperate acts of rage, are screams of pain from those who feel discarded and dismissed. The simple, basic human kindness of acknowledging that we see each other, beyond our self-ascribed labels of identity, can begin to transform the world we live in overnight.

People lash out when they feel threatened and vulnerable. We make people feel protected when we take care of them, and there are many people in the world who do not feel cared for or protected in the world today. This is where our work begins: truly allowing ourselves to see every person we come in contact with, if even for a moment, by offering them our full presence — this is the one action we can all take today. This is where we start the process of healing.

Connection

We must remember that we are connected. When we cut off another, we cut off a part of ourselves; and the world continues to pulse with open wounds. When the ship is sinking, and the ship of America is sinking, we don’t bail the water out before we repair the holes. We form communities and do both concurrently and we survive another day, one step closer to wholeness: integrity.

We start the process of healing

once we stop the bleed of suffering.

We must stop turning a blind eye to those around us who are suffering; and if someone is living in fear, they are indeed suffering. Taking steps to heal those who suffer, is also taking steps toward protecting those who are harmed by those who are unhealed and hurting others.

Who in your community is suffering and feeling unseen? What can you do today to help them know their worth in a way that would inspire them to create value instead of destruction? We have the power to evolve beyond tragedies that are driven by the hatred of self and others. Change is the only constant thing in life. That change starts with each of us engaging with the people we tend to ignore. Take the time to make someone feel seen today and watch the change unfurl.

This is an edited excerpt from Part four, Lego Legacy Legislation: What Is It, and How Can It Solve Our Problems? Gun Control Edition. The original publication is entitled, Five Steps We Can Take to End Mass Shootings.

Sage Justice has a passion for solution-based journalism with a focus on the on the human condition.

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