A hierarchy of human worth makes us look at other humans as commodities, something to be used for our own benefit. Whether it is to make more money, to gain more power, or to simply to feel better about ourselves, we reduce humans to entities, something to be bought and sold at the market. But what happens to humanity when we find little girls in brothels, old men begging on the street? We disconnect. No one can witness the lifeless gaze of a broken human without either reaching out, or walking away.
We used to walk away, but then something happened.
"In the faces of men and women I see God." - Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
A religion can be either liberate or enslave, it all depends on what it teaches. For more than fifteen centuries Christianity supported the existence of a hierarchy. Slaves, women, and foreigners had no place on the top; they existed only to serve in silence. But then these same people began to read the Bible for themselves, and found that God's image was imprinted on every soul. There was no mention of a hierarchy in which some are closer to God; God can be seen on every face.
Human equality causes us to reach out, to connect with other humans. Those who know they share the same worth do not exploit; they look out for the interests of others, for they know that their interests are connected. And because they know their interests are connected, they do not walk away when they see injustice.
The hierarchy of human worth is being re-built little by little every day. Unless we want to return to the world in which some are worth more than others, we must do something about it. Justice is the result of a conscious effort to fight injustice daily. The responsibility is one we all share alike, as is the reward.
