Take Pride

Today is Pride Day in Greensboro, and downtown is going to be filled with people, flags, music and celebration.

And I think that’s great.

But it got me thinking: Why did we ever need Pride in the first place?

We wrote, “All men are created equal.” Great sentence.

Apparently, we’ve spent the next 250 years arguing over who exactly we meant.

Gay. Straight. Black. White. Christian. Jewish. Muslim. Republican. Democrat.

We’ve gotten incredibly good at putting people into boxes.

But after talking to nearly 100 strangers, I’ve learned something ridiculously simple:

We’re just people.

We want a decent home. A safe neighborhood. Good schools. Health care when we’re sick. Roads that work. A little money left over at the end of the month. Someone to love. Someone who loves us back.

That’s it.

Celebrate Pride. Fly your flag. Be exactly who you are.

But maybe the ultimate goal is a country where nobody has to fight for permission to belong.

Because underneath all those labels, there’s only one group that really matters:

Us.