i don’t know. i have no idea what a ‘man’ is (though let’s say ‘person,’ because it’s more accurate, if superficially less precise.) beyond a collection of experiences, feelings and ideas- a perspective. which, as far as i’m concerned, is fine, as i’m only interested in perspectives, anyway. (it makes sense, since my definition necessarily reflects my own values and sense of what’s important.)

this makes it really easy to see that everyone has value, but of course, not everyone is going to be equally valuable, you know, to me. my degree of interest/investment in each person is determined by the degree to which they are showing me something i haven’t seen before or, at least, showing me something i have seen before but presenting in a way that’s new to me (which is essentially the same thing).

it also provides a nice heuristic for myself, to consider what i share and how i share it: am i offering a new perspective? am i offering my perspective in a compelling fashion? obviously, we are rarely, if ever, truly original, but it feels like a worthy goal to work towards.

sports talk radio goon Jim Rome (no clue if he still has a show, but probably) employed the glib, confrontational slogan “Have a take. Don’t suck.” as advice to listeners who called in to his show. i like to think i’m less demanding than Mr. Rome, though; just have a take. go ahead and suck, if you suck, just suck in a way that i haven’t seen/heard someone suck before. i hope you all are being similarly generous to me, because i’m doing my best. maybe. i’m actually not sure about that.