Essential

We cannot live for others,

Cannot think that anyone else can see our beauty,

Our unique contribution to existence,

Cannot base our lives on what they say,

For most are blind to those outside of their immediate circle,

And 99.9% of the world does not realize

How much you truly matter

And how much poorer their lives would be without you

Society says it would be safer and better

For you to lock yourself away from them to die in a hole,

But then for the first time, we recognize and consider some to be “essential,”

Were they not essential all along?

Though I don’t know the man at the chicken plant who is making it possible for me to eat dinner tonight,

Can I not see the value in his contributions to my life?

Do I need to travel halfway around the world

To the countries where my clothes are made

And see the process of creating the textiles that I use to keep myself warm and clothed every day?

Must I meet the men and women who weave the fabrics and dye the threads

That play such an important role in the tapestry of my life

To realize that they play such an important role in my life?

Am I so blind?

The farmers who work all hours of the day

(And often all hours of the night)

The doctors and nurses who staff the hospitals and clinics I need when I am sick,

The truckers, engineers, pilots, and ship’s captains who create a global network of transportation,

The teachers who make all of these jobs possible,

The businessmen who employ large numbers of people,

The mom-and-pop store owners who sell me unique and interesting goods,

The first responders and law enforcement officers who help me in crises,

The cashier at the grocery store who helps me find what I need,

The leaders of nations who create laws and borders,

The man at the gas station selling overpriced donuts

And the gas I need at 2 am while I’m driving home from a friend’s house,

The inventors and innovators of technology,

The designers and architects of beauty,

Artists, writers, musicians, naturalists, landscapers, creators

And every other expression of human ingenuity:

Society does not function without a single one of these roles

Society is not functioning right now,

And though it spent years telling you

That you do not matter,

That the second you die someone will be found to replace you at your job,

That 99.9% of the world wouldn’t care if you didn’t exist at all,

Society does not understand the ripple effect

Society does not understand that there is no such thing as a human being who is not vital, vital

to all of us!

Society does not understand

That it doesn’t exist without each of us

But we are society

And we can do better

Perhaps after this we will not be so blind to the essential nature of all human beings,

Perhaps after this we will see the value in each other,

Not just for what we do,

But for who we are

And I know that we cannot convince people that they matter—

That is something each of us must discover for ourselves—

But God Almighty, could we at least stop telling people, whether implicitly or explicitly,

That they do not?!

Each of us is essential,

In our differences and our similarities,

No one is less than anyone else,

And the world cannot go on without each of us,

There is a reason the Talmud says

That to save one life is to save the whole world,

Because each time a person dies,

Each time a person cannot be who his heart tells him to be,

Each time a person does not or cannot express the fullness of all that they are,

The world ends,

It ends and it can never be again!

And just because a new world is born from the old world’s ashes

Doesn’t mean we should hasten its passing!

Come and let us love one another,

Let us value each other,

Let us stop being blind to what matters

Let us see each other and truly be able to say:

Namaste! I honor you, I see you, I recognize you,

You matter to me.