The survival of our Humanity depends on inclusivity. Our willingness and ability to set aside school playground antics, allow the best in each and every person to find its way through. The moment we cast someone out for reasons we deem justifiable, we initiate a crack in the foundation of our humanity that has the potential at any moment to become a gaping chasm, impossible to traverse.

This is not to say that this is a simple solution achieved through purity of thought and deed. That all will follow along if the refrain is loud enough, all potential outliers lured by siren song. Or that we ourselves will never stray from the path of inclusion, disrupt our own commitment to harmony.

In fact, this is nothing short of a daunting undertaking. The engagement of a complex and never-black-and-white cause. For our Humanity is shaped and textured by the very fact of our humanness, the inherent imperfection of our species.

What of the moment when someone else plays dirty? Slings mud, breaks bones, sears the tender heart of unsuspecting victims?

Rally, I say. Rally, my friends.

Find the hands of those next to you and bond together to cauterize this dangerous schism, do your best to ensure that it doesn’t rupture into something even more volatile and damaging. One drop of poison has the potency to proliferate, break the bonds of health and love in an instant if left unchecked.

And though it might seem counterintuitive and feather-bristling, consider that when a malevolent force rips through, threatening to wipe clear all remnants of hope, we must be willing to move one step closer, lean in to look carefully at the origination point of that anomaly. Eyes wide open to what we might discover.

Including the possibility that we might have assisted to prevent such an act. Or that we might have the skill and presence to mitigate future devastation. That our very existence begs us to do our part to keep moving, always toward peaceful resolution.

What I write here is not for the faint of heart. For there will not always be answers. Clear signs as to why someone or something has broken free of the pack and chosen to wreak havoc. Perhaps this is why we turn more easily to rage, for the grief of not knowing is a thousand times more wrenching than the certainty of placing blame.

Be willing to consistently watch for your own internal whispers of exclusivity, of quiet personal assurance that you are on the right side of things, insidious beliefs clearly felt, though never spoken.

For in the end, our Humanity is influenced greatly by each person’s ability to stare down the beast of their own misunderstandings and self-righteousness, make the choice to not blindly cast labels of separation into a crowd.

On this, our Humanity depends.