Label Me Human - - By Observers

Who (or what) Am I ?
The answer is in the label. Labels, labels, labels - we have way too many labels telling us who and what we are but there's really only one label that matters. So again, who am I? Well, I am a heterosexual sixty-one year old male caucasian homo sapien living on Planet Earth. I have also had many other 'labels'. When I was a youngster I was a Cub Scout of America. Later I was a Boy Scout of America. I was also a Junior Deputy Sheriff for Johnson County, Kansas. About that same time I was a member of the Overland Park Junior Optimist Club and, years later, a member of Optimist International. In the various schools I attended, I was a Bulldog, a Trojan, a Bruin, a Lancer, and a Viking. I was a member of the Boy's Glee Club, the choir, and the chorale. I was a Sergeant in the Security Police of the Air Force Reserves. For many years, I would check the 'Christian' square when required on all of the various applications and questionnaires required of me. I have been 'Single', 'Married', 'Separated', and 'Divorced'. I am a son as well as a father. I am an obese asthmatic and a diabetic. I am a jazz and blues lover. I have been called a critic, a liberal, an extremist, and a cynic. I have been both an employer and an employee, giving me numerous labels in both of these categories. I have been a Republican, a Democrat, and an Independent. As I write this, I am alive, but soon enough I'll be dead. . I am a Kansan (however that is defined) and an American and I 'love' 'my' country. I grew up as a patriot, saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing The National Anthem. I am American, but only because I was born here, in what has been, without a doubt, the greatest nation in history. Had I been born elsewhere, however, I would be called something else, and without a doubt I would be a patriot there. - - - - - - -
This is, of course, just a partial list of my many labels.
Labels, labels, labels. I have had many labels describe me, yet I find that, in spite of how they define me, there is, at base, little difference between myself and other people, including people from other places upon the Earth. This simple fact should be something that is readily acceptable by all people, but unfortunately we all tend to think we are different (better) than other peoples. This is true of us, no matter where we are from... Basically, except for the cultural differences, I am just like any other sixty-one year old male human being. And though I have not chosen to live in any other country, I believe other people, from other countries, are indeed my equal. How could it be otherwise. I don't want to be misunderstood here. I have lived a very spoiled American life and am very thankful for it. I do not take for granted the rights and freedoms I have as an American citizen - (it is those very rights and freedoms that make us great) - nor do I take for granted the lives of those who have fought and died protecting those rights and freedoms for me. As I said, I love my country - just as my Canadian friend loves his country and just as my Hispanic friend loves his country - and my African friend loves his country - and I would suppose if I had friends from other countries, they would say they love 'their' country, too. I may have had many labels, but first of all, at base, there is really only One label that I need.
I am an animal with the label 'Human Being'. That is all. Any of the other labels just tend to separate me from the rest of the mass of Life. And while I am, in a way, separated from the rest of Life, I am still very much a part of it all.
In America, we say we believe that 'all men (and women) are created equal'. This doesn't say that just all 'American's' are created equal, but that 'all people' are created equal. All People. Created Equal. And then what? Then we are indoctrinated with our individual national traditions and religious mores. The tradition, the time, and the culture into which we are born usually determines both our path and our attitude. Oftentimes, those who are fortunate enough to have been born in or live in one of the more affluent countries have a tendency to have an attitude of superiority and deem themselves 'better' than people who live in less affluent countries. This is an attitude that speaks of most all Americans I know. America, the Greatest Country, at least in the egotistical eyes of most of it's citizens. Well, look out America! What made America great is now transforming nations around the world. Things like the industrial revolution, free enterprise, the spirit of entrepreneurship, and the ability to utilize natural resources are now taking hold in many places around the globe. Likewise, the desire to be free from tyranny, to have freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom to choose, or not choose, a personal religion, and all the rest of the freedoms recognized in the 'Free World' have become contagious and are now being pursued by most all people everywhere. The world is changing - and changing very rapidly. It would appear that America may have had it's fifteen minutes of fame.
Oh, America is still the 'greatest nation,' and will likely remain so for some time, but other countries are now on the rise and in many areas are one-upping the good ole USA. For the first time since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, America now finds itself behind other countries in many areas - education, health care, infant mortality, - the list goes on.. The global playing field is becoming more and more level and the youth of today inately sense the urgent need to move toward tolerance and acceptance. "The social issues at the core of today's culture wars will be moot within a generation", writes Pete Abel. "Gen Y, the first U.S. generation with a supermajority that's effectively colorblind, seems to be equally open-minded on matters of choice, on whom we choose to love and when we choose to reproduce. If that's true - if the enlightenment of our children has effectively decided these issues - then there's little reason to continue fighting about them." . So we learn to accept.
This is the way of our social evolution, younger generations making the evolutionary changes that their parents and grandparents are to set in their ways to make. Eventually, these young will age, and their young will make the next series of changes. And so it goes. Needless to say, the young people of today will find themselves living in a world unlike any known before. Life in the twenty-first century will require us to accept both our animalness and our oneness. We may have come from different geographical origins, but we are One Race. We will all have to learn to live in harmony as the people of the human race living in our One World. We will if we survive, that is. But that, dear friend, is a whole other subject.