We are people, we have value just for being who we are, and just by our very existence.
There's the core phrase in your post.
Of course, people, through their actions, can destroy that statement...A child-molester or rapist, just two examples. They have little value, in my personal opinion anyway. It raises an interesting thought in my mind...
Is a man who murders someone a bad man? What if he murders that other person in defence of his family, a young child? Hmm...
Anyway...
Struggling with one’s humanity and personhood is something that is not foreign to me. I’ve had many a person tell me, through words, deeds, or attitudes, that I am not, at least in their assessment, a person or a person worthy of being treated with respect and decency.
It's clear you are battling through some things currently, or have been, and I wish you the best with it. You are, indeed we all are, worthy of being treated with respect and decency...Until we're not...Like the rapist I mentioned. (Again, this is just my opinion and I figure some will disagree as they are entitled to do.)
All the best mate, and thanks for sharing your thoughts and situation...You never know who you may be helping by doing so.
@galenkp, thank you for the props. And there are degrees of moral and ethical debate on the value of a person, granted, as in the case of a person who kills another in defense of his family or an innocent. That is not murder, as murder is the unlawful premeditative killing of another person for selfish means. Killing in the moment of self-defense, while on duty as a police office, or as a soldier in combat is not murder in most ethical systems. And then there is the case of redemption: how long does someone have to pay for their crimes? If someone who committed a murder is released from prison, that means that society has agreed that he has paid for his crimes, and there are still restrictions on his freedoms, but when do we say that he has paid and stop labeling him as a "murderer"? All valid ethical questions, for sure...
I'm just glad that someone is reading, and that there is a chance that anyone out there can gain some comfort or support from the crap that I have been through, and that a reader will feel at least a little bit less alone.
#Respect
You seem like a good dude and write with passion and from the heart. I like that. We live in a crazy messed up world and sometimes it's hard to see forward clearly...The only thing we can do is our best and seems that's what you're doing.
Thanks for responding and all the best for the weekend.