Dehumanizing Humans

Because people are basically bad, we have a tendency to behave badly. Our instincts are for self-preservation and anything that goes against that ideal, we resist. Often that means that we resist or oppose things that do not really threaten our own well-being. We often oppose the well-being of others because it is not our well-being.

For example, I might become jealous- even envious- of another person in my profession who meets more success than I do. Although he may not be as good at our job as I am, for some reason he is "luckier" than me. He works for a different company and makes more money, has more security, perhaps he has gained notoriety for the job. All of this can drive me crazy. He is no threat to me, to my work, to my future, and yet I have evil thoughts about him. It is because I am a bad person.

This problem is true in general, but can also be seen to be true in specific situations. We have divided our world into "classes" or types of people. We all want to reach higher echelons of society and therefore ignore, or even shun, those who are in equal, or lower, social classes.

This is the work of the devil. It is a human/satanic invention to think that one person, or group of people, is superior in any way to another. All people are created to be equal. Each individual has the same value as every other individual. The orphan child living in the dumps of Mexico City is just as valuable as Warren Buffett. We must begin to reorient our thought processes to treat all people, and to care for all people, in the same way.

Here are some general categories that we should work very hard to avoid and overcome.

• Service Worker. This one really makes me mad. People assume that because an individual's job is to serve another individual, that indicates a social hierarchy. I see service workers as hard-working, important parts of our world.
• Financial Distinctions. This is one of the hardest barriers to overcome. Money does create opportunity and comfort. However, it never means that a person is somehow superior to anyone else. If you have money, get over it. If you don't, don't worry about it.
• Social Superiority. Many people make distinctions based on education, ancestry, geographic region or some other meaningless measurement. There are thousands (millions?) of differences between people, none of those have anything to do with the value of one over another.