There’s a lot of renewed vigor in the conversation about racism as a result of improper police activity, (especially toward young, black men), irresponsible frat boy behavior, (as if responsible frat boy behavior was even a thing), the immigration debate, (in particular when it comes to that “pesky Meskin issue”), the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma, (next thing you know they’ll be going after Louise….um, sorry…that was Thelma), and the open and unapologetic belittlement of the President by right wing pundits, a scary percentage of the unenlightened populace and, most shamefully, a constant, coordinated cadre of critically contentious Congressmen, (who, by the way, wouldn’t appreciate a well-crafted alliterative sentence if it bit them in the ass). It would appear, that humans have a natural tendency, (the DNA card is way over-used, don’t you think?), to dislike, let’s say HATE, the things that make us different. I get taking issue with the “free will” choices people make. I can muster some hatred for those who opt for rudeness, (making poor and dangerous driving decisions, cutting in line, talking non-stop, right behind me, during a Steely Dan concert), who put profit before fairness or environmental responsibility, (oil companies, insurance companies, phone companies, cable companies), or any person or group whose overly zealous extremism, (nationalist, religionist, sexist, athleticist), supersedes the worth or humanity of contrarians. But, as I truly embrace the unlimited, creative potential that is the bubbling stew of our dissimilar thought processes, I continually cringe at the irrational mandate to categorize and rate ourselves contentiously, based on race, geography, socio-economical circumstance, penis or breast size. When most of the world’s non-virile, (that would be the creepy microscopic virile, not the creepy InterNet kind), ills can be traced to conflicting religious belief, skin pigmentation, (with the add-ons of hair kinkiness, nose and eye shape, lip size and, to some extent, booty protrusion), national pride, (which would include all allegiances to the phony baloney presumption of royalty), and pure unadulterated greed, one, (maybe it’s me), would think that there would be some well established and funded international movement to lead us past the pettiness and save us from ourselves. Yet, at every turn, new and imaginative ways of increasing the number of pigeonholes insure infinite variations of Us v Them far into the foreseeable future. If only we were smart enough to realize there is only an Us.