- Society
- Living beings
- Human traits
- Mind, body and soul
Pre
Top Down
We’re living in an overly and overtly divisive age. Various groups of people in this country and around the world are deservedly claiming their own cultural turf in the noble pursuit of inclusion. I myself have dedicated my professional life to making Big Business more “age-friendly” toward Baby Boomers in the larger effort to change our (negative) narrative of aging.
While recognizing our diversity and celebrating our differences is happily going a long way towards making us a more equal society, we are in the process of tending to overlook the things that we have in common and unite us as human beings.
To be clear, the desire to carve out our identity in our increasingly splintered, Balkanized world can be understood and appreciated. Defining ourselves is one of our primary goals in life; after all, a means of addressing the ultimate existential question: “Who am I?”
There’s a flip side to these steps toward self-awareness and positive social change, however. As we establish our individual and group identities, we’re too often labeling those who are different from us in some way as the “other.” More than ever before in history, perhaps, we’re focusing on an individual’s race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political affiliation, and a myriad of other variables to define a person. I saw a bumper sticker on a car the other day that simply read, “Vegetarian.”
Otherness is everywhere these days, much of it grounded in artificially constructed social divisions that are better left to actuarial tables. In addition to all the demographic slicing and dicing, psychological profiling is an often-used device to determine what kind of personality you have (and, more importantly, what kind you don’t). I’m an INTJ, one might proudly declare after taking the Myers-Briggs test, distinguishing myself from all those ESFPs.
Such bucket sorting is not just silly but unhealthy and destructive. We’re all humans and, despite what MSNBC and Fox News might say, have much in common on a fundamental level. In fact, we all share the same basic DNA, making us genetic cousins of varying degrees. Americans seem especially split on many levels, something not consistent with our democratic ideals. In our quest to fulfill our motto of e pluribus unum—out of many, one—I’m concerned we’re prioritizing the pluribus over the unum.
To that point, I propose that there are 10 universal human traits that we share as a species. Concentrating on these instead of our alleged differences is a much more useful way to have, as Garrison Keillor used to say in his radio ad for Powdermilk Biscuits, “the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.”
These traits are, in no particular order:
These 10 universal traits transcend all the superficial differences we spend way too much time thinking and talking about. Let’s use them as ways to bring us closer together, even as we acknowledge and respect our wonderful diversity.
Modified from Source
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Example: 11 traits were mentioned in the text. False
Post
Physical Description
Age:
Height:
Body Build:
Face:
Hair Length:
Hair Type:
Hair Color:
Skin:
Eyes:
Giving Personal Details
Professional:
Character:
Dimples
Brunette
Spiky
Wavy
Flawless
Bald
( ) A person with dark brown hair.
( ) Lacking a natural or usual covering.
( ) Having a form or edge that smoothly curves in and out.
( ) Without any blemishes or imperfections; perfect.
( ) A small depression in the flesh, either one that exists permanently or one that forms in the cheeks when one smiles.
(3) Resembling a spike or spikes.
Dimples
Brunette
Spiky
Wavy
Flawless
Bald
(2) A person with dark brown hair.
(6) Lacking a natural or usual covering.
(4) Having a form or edge that smoothly curves in and out.
(5) Without any blemishes or imperfections; perfect.
(1) A small depression in the flesh, either one that exists permanently or one that forms in the cheeks when one smiles.
(3) Resembling a spike or spikes.
Example: She looks like someone who has the discipline it takes to be a lawyer. She has dark hair and…
WRINKLES – BLONDE – STRAIGHT HAIR – HAZEL EYES – DIMPLES – BEAUTY SPOT
Hazel
Frizzy
Freckles
Blond
Curly
( ) Clusters of concentrated melanized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion.
( ) Flaxen, golden, light auburn, or pale yellowish-brown color.
( ) Made, growing, or arranged in curls or curves.
(1) A reddish-brown or greenish-brown color, especially of a person’s eyes.
( ) Formed of a mass of small, tight curls or tufts.
Hazel
Frizzy
Freckles
Blond
Curly
(3) Clusters of concentrated melanized cells which are most easily visible on people with a fair complexion.
(4) Flaxen, golden, light auburn, or pale yellowish-brown color.
(5) Made, growing, or arranged in curls or curves.
(1) A reddish-brown or greenish-brown color, especially of a person’s eyes.
(2) Formed of a mass of small, tight curls or tufts.
Body
Hair
Skin
(1) A stocky man who was seated near the head of the table was voicing his sarcastic opinion.
( ) Her face was creamy white with a scattering of light freckles on her high cheekbones.
( ) Gone was the slightly long wavy blond framing the roughish good looks.
( ) The beauty spot on her hand, just by her little finger, had grown larger.
( ) The brunette just sighed sadly and looked out the window, a few red tinted curls slipping from her loose ponytail to fall in her eyes.
( ) A skinny woman in her forties wearing jeans and a white undershirt sat on the couch.
( ) Her smile cut deep dimples into each cheek and revealed pretty white teeth.
Body
Hair
Skin
(1) A stocky man who was seated near the head of the table was voicing his sarcastic opinion.
(3) Her face was creamy white with a scattering of light freckles on her high cheekbones.
(2) Gone was the slightly long wavy blond framing the roughish good looks.
(3) The beauty spot on her hand, just by her little finger, had grown larger.
(2) The brunette just sighed sadly and looked out the window, a few red tinted curls slipping from her loose ponytail to fall in her eyes.
(1) A skinny woman in her forties wearing jeans and a white undershirt sat on the couch.
(3) Her smile cut deep dimples into each cheek and revealed pretty white teeth.
Example: was / She / smiling / the / she / redhead / to / still / for / as / and / the / waited / leave. / brunette > She was still smiling as she waited for the redhead and the brunette to leave.
Example: Madonna is blonde…