We’re all Equal Under the Same Moon

One of my favorite sights on this wondrous thing called life is a dark night full of the moon and stars.

I took a plethora of education classes in college, learned a plethora of lessons, and gained a plethora of memories (…I love that word, plethora!). The one thing that comes most clearly to my mind from those days was a question posed by the teacher during my TESL class.

“How many races on Earth are there?”

Pause.

Student: “One.”

Yes, there is only one race on this planet: the human race.

Think about all the different people you know. And just think: we’ve all been under that same moon, those same stars, that same night sky.

Shakespeare. Soldiers in the Civil War. A photographer I just saw in a commercial. My parents when they were younger at a Grateful Dead concert, that starving child in Africa, a couple of Argentinian farmers, my celeb crush, Anne Frank, Jesus, me when I was 5 years old, and everyone else.

We’re all connected, equal, under the same moon.

Always remember, it doesn’t matter about our looks, lifestyles, the color of our skin, values, religion, our jobs, nationalities, or even who we are; not if we’re white, black, yellow, polka dot; if you’re Christian, Islamic, Buddhist; whether you’re that homeless man sleeping under the highway or the President of the United States; gay, straight, or lesbian; Chinese, French, or of the Dominican Republic; male or female; grew up in a nourishing family or lived on the streets since seven; those Argentinian farmers, UPS worker, or wealthy banker on Wall Street; if you have a perfect IQ or if you’re autistic; we will always ever only be equal in our humanity. And that’s what matters most.

C. Ostergren