A Salute to John Locke

I haven't been updating as regularly as I would like to be and its because my miserable mac is sitting in Tekserve on 23rd street. So until they work their magic I'll have to type in haste from this communal Dell in between my classes.

I only have 10 minutes, but a whole lot of thoughts. I've been thinking lately about the nature of people. Now, I've always been a John Locke gal myself- people are born good but are corrupted by society, right to life, libery, property and all that. But it's suddenly taken on a new meaning to me.
As a gender's studies minor, a Sex and the City addict, a woman, and a self-proclaimed feminist, I've spent a whole lot of time contrasting the behaviors and wiring of men and women. We just seem so astonishlingly differnet by nature. Our roles flip-flop, our designs clash, and our efforts at communication rarely translate.
It's so easy for me to harp on that, effortless in fact, because it's what I observe in my daily life.
But here's what's not so easy to see.
We're all people.
We all want the basics.
Friendship, love, sex, kindness, generosity, laughter, a good night's sleep and a bangin' desert.
Or as Mr. John Locke put it, "life, liberty and property."
He was probably just referring to men, but I'm in an optimistic mood so I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume that by "every man" he meant every person. I would normally get pissy about this. But because of my pleasant dispostion I'm going to say that his faulty language is a reflection on his upbringing, not him. And besides, I've essentially had a weird crush on him since 8th grade so I'd like to think he can do no wrong.


Believe me, I know how easy it is to be angry. Not only easy, but important. Anger leads to action which leads to progress. In fact this blog originated from a place of anger and I can't say I regret it.

But maybe the guy whose words made it to our constitution had it right. Maybe its not so complicated, or cocophonous or tragic. Maybe the hardest thing to remember is the simplest of all. I know I'll forget it soon, but at least for today, maybe I can put aside our genetalia and hormone levels to be a little kinder to people and remember that all genders aside, we are one race.