Literature
Human worth
Philosophers, poets, and artists across time and religious traditions have struggled to help us understand human worth and possibility. Martin Buber, among them, wrote:
When I confront a human being as a You and speak the basic word I-You to him, then he is no thing among things nor does he consist of things. He is no longer He or She, limited by other Hes and Shes, a dot in the world grid of space and time, nor a condition that can be experienced or described, a loose bundle of named qualities. Neighborless and seamless, he is You and fills the firmament.
To truly see the very one in front of you, whoever it might be, is to experience all of creation. For Buber, this knowledge carries a deep responsibility:
Any natural act, if hallowed, leads to God, and nature needs man for what no angel can perform on it, namely, its hallowing.
It falls to us to enact the sacred worth of every human in this life.
From I and Thou and The Way of Man
Thank you for this eloquent reminder of a sacred truth.