The Difference Between "Us" and "Them."

Who is your "us"? Everyone has an "us" and a "them." Those you associate with. Those you don't. People who are like you. People who aren't.

As humans, we label ourselves and we label others. You label yourself. You label others. We all do it. We can't help it. It starts as a convenience... a short hand so we know who we're talking about it. Us. Them. Are you a geek? A goth? A punk? A metal-head? A rapper? A jock? A preppy? A freak? A Christian? A Muslim? A Jew? An Arab? An American?

There's a million ways to separate "us" from "them." We segregate ourselves by the choices we make, the places we live, the music we listen to, the God(s) we believe in (or don't), and even the things we can't choose, like our gender or the color of our skin. We've all been many things... We take on many labels and shed them as we grow and change.

We label ourselves and we label others so we know who "we" are and we know who "they" are. We have a million different labels for who "we" are and who "they" are. We label ourselves and our nation and our family and our neighborhood and our countries and we divide, divide, divide.

We are not "that," but this. We are not "this," but that. We are not "them," but us.

How do all those labels really help us, though? The labels we apply to ourselves and others, they identify us, surely, but do they not also limit? There comes a point when we have to ask, as a species, do they confine us more than they free us? Do they segregate more than unite? They identify, but they can't help but put a barrier between people. A million little walls between us and them.

The labels let us know who to go to war with, sure. The labels let us know who has less and who has more. But a million labels haven't helped us progress toward being a more evolved, star-faring race -- which is our potential as human beings and our right as sentient creatures. The labels just make it easier to know who to hate.

The labels only make it easier to know who is different. And from grade school when the teachers asked us "Which one is different and doesn't belong," we all learned that different is somehow bad.

I just wonder if there isn't a better way.