Member-only story
For me it’s not about the rights of any sub-group — it’s everyone
Now, before I start, let me make this clear: I feel that the battles of individual groups demanding their equal rights is absolutely necessary. That it IS necessary is an indictment of the cultures and governments of much of the world. But I believe this shouldn’t and wouldn’t be necessary if we recognized our common humanity and, instinctively, supported human rights. For ALL humans.
I’m not better — or worse — than anybody else. I don’t know that I was born instinctively respecting all people. But who knows? Maybe we are all born with that inclusiveness. As the Rogers and Hammerstein song said about bigotry, “you have to be carefully taught.” Maybe bigotry is learned.
In any case, I am not devoid of bigotry. I grew up in an imperfect world where bigotry is common, and no human is all good or all bad. And I’m just one of those humans. But, I suspect that because in my youth I did community theater and worked with a variety of people, I learned early to see people in general as colleagues. Young, old, people secretly gay, people who were outcasts. Anyone and everyone.
Not too many were my friends. I was an introvert. In any case, to me it’s instinctive that people are people. It’s perhaps an accident of fate that I’m sensible on this issue. I may be…
