Worth of a Human

"We were left behind on the side of the road like yesterday's trash." -- woman in the Houston shelter on Oprah's show Wednesday.

The unfolding truth of the lack of regard for the poor, especially the poor and black, has dramatically revealed itself in New Orleans. Is it right to treat human beings like yesterday's garbage?

The ugliest aspects of our prevailing attitude are coming to light -- we are seeing the consequences of a long standing bias toward wealth, the consequences of long standing racism and self interest and it is sickening most of us. We've found an infestation of cockroaches in our own supposedly pristine cupboard. The cockroaches are the beliefs that money is the only thing that matters, that race is a determinant of the value of a human being.

We knew it was there -- we didn't realize it was that bad. Guess we don't open that cupboard often enough.

Once we see the cockroaches, finally, we get to decide what to do about the infestation. We get to examine what does truly matter and what humans deserve simply because they are human.

History has propelled us toward the conclusion that human beings deserve honor and respect as a consequence of the simple truth that they are human and alive.

If that is the conclusion we draw, then we need to turn to those most disadvantaged and say we are sorry. We have not, by any means, been widely acting on that belief. Not in the day-to-day.

We also need to turn to that part of ourselves that holds the secret belief that we are not worthy of being rescued. What do I possibly have to offer this world? That part of us resides in us still. It occurred to me yesterday that much of religions are based on the very idea of the unworthy human who must be saved or made right. No wonder we feel unworthy at some deep level.

Now this seems at odds with the conclusion that humans deserve respect and honor simply because we are human. We'll have to sort that one out.

In this grand sorting out, let us be kind to one another. Let's loudly demonstrate to those from the Gulf who have been devastated that we believe they do deserve honor and dignity and respect, without condition, because they are human on this earth.