All the kids these days, do you really want to be that way?

I am a caucasian female with dark hair and dark eyes. I am of average height and weight. I like males. My nails are not well kept. I am bohemian. I am a dreamer. I am a philosopher. I am kind. I am loving. I am a sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter, cousin, friend, and neighbor. I read books all the time. I write what I think. At times I am lazy and productive. I watch TV. I go to movies. I listen to music. I listen to my friends. I take care of other people's children. I like writing and receiving letters. I like the look of my eyes, my hair, my hands, and my feet. I'm self-conscious of my body from time to time. I'm right. I'm wrong. I'm happy. I'm sad. I'm emotional. I'm stoic. I'm sleeping. I'm waking. I'm logical. I'm rational. I'm irrational. I'm illogical. I'm confused. I know. I don't know. I'm outgoing. I'm shy. I've got all of these categories I fit under and yet my favorite is

I am me.

There is no other me in the world.

And there never will be another me. Ever.

Socrates is the reason for this post. What?!? What does Socrates have to do with this??

He's the dude who challenged the thoughts of his day and forever shaped the thoughts of western civilization. And we don't even realize it. It's pretty much subconscious.

In his conversation with a guy called Euthyphro, Socrates asks him to define piety or justice as the case may be. Euthyphro gives Socrates several examples of justice but Socrates continues to ask him for the definition, not examples. It's a really long conversation and I didn't read all of it, just the part in my philosophy book. The point is, this conversation affected the way we think right to this very moment.

Not cool, man.

See, Socrates left out one part of the equation. He forgot the individual. He forgot the "me" factor.

We have come to let the labels, the categories, the titles define who we are and what we see. And really, that's not a good way to be. Think about it. Every war, every prejudice, every form of bullying, they all stem from those categories. We think with an us and them mentality. Billions of people have died because of it. We all walk around wearing these tinted glasses and the sad part is most people aren't even aware of it. And they need to be. For all our society has to say about being ourselves there aren't many people in it who hold true to that.

I'll even go "religious" with this. Jesus. Jesus said the greatest commandment of all was one not even written on the stone tablets. He said that we needed to love our neighbors as ourselves. By following that one commandment, just that one, you follow every single other one. Every law. Every rule. Love your neighbor as yourself, and you don't need those other commandments, laws, edicts, rules. Following that requires us to take off the Socrates glasses and not see people by their titles, categories, labels, or anything like that. It requires that we see people as who they are and not as those titles make us think they are.

So, what do you think? What are your thoughts? I really do want to know.