I Am A Person

Going through a medical procedure makes one feel like “everyhuman.” There I lay in my hospital gown, I.V. in my hand, oxygen in my nose, soft music playing over the speaker, two nurses talking about their families, waiting for the doctor to come in and do my “procedure.”

Those two nurses do it every day for who knows how many people. To them, I was just “patient number six” (or whatever) that day. They do these procedures eight or ten times a day, every day, every week, every month, all year. Nameless, faceless bodies come through, table by table, tick off the check list, help the doctor. Next!

As I lay there waiting for the world to spin away through sedation, listening to two nurses talk, I wanted to scream: “I am a person!” Don’t get me wrong. They were very nice and very pleasant. But I felt anonymous just lying there. They didn’t know know what I do for a living. They knew nothing about my wife. They didn’t realize that I have two children living nine hours away from me in two different directions. They didn’t know that I love U2 concerts, riding my bike, and writing my blog.

Human beings have need for intimacy. We have a need to be known and to be loved. We have a need to know that someone cares.

Some areas of life create distance between people. We see it in politics, in religion, and medicine. It’s so easy to label, to judge, or to be dispassionate. But in the end, we ourselves need to be known and need to be loved. Sometimes we want to scream: “I am a person!”

God knows that need. He sent His Son into this world to become “Everyhuman” for us. The Son of God draws us close. He knows our needs. He creates not distance between us and God, but intimacy. He forgives our selfishness by His selflessness. He says, “I am a person.”

He became a person so that the space between humans and their Creator would be bridged. God knows I love U2 concerts, riding my bike, and writing my blog. More than that, He knows that I am a sinner in need of forgiveness because “I am a person,” and people are sinners. The perfect God/Man gave up His body on the tree for me.

God has created us to be social people: to care and be cared for, to know and be known, to love and be loved. We are truly human in the most wonderful sense of the word when we have special connection with one another. That’s when we exuberantly cry out with joy in our hearts: “I am a person!”…and someone cares enough to provide affirmation of that fact.

What is it that makes you feel like a “person”?

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3 thoughts on “I Am A Person

  1. Strange how we can sometimes be surrounded by people – in person – and yet feel like we don't even exist. All the technology that has developed over the last 15 years is suppose to make it so much easier to "connect". I think people get addicted to checking their electronic "life lines" so much because they want to know they are a person – someone wants to send them a message, no matter how insignificant the content might be. But they feel alive because they are "included"…isn't that what this is all about – inclusion? It's interesting that people seek this extra "life line" when they are actually gathered with others in person – see it all the time. Funny that that can make those you are with feel like they don't exist (again being surrounded by people).
    And on the other side of the coin, people share because they don't want to be left out either – their inclusion is satisfied by sharing the events of their day. But what makes us feel like a person, sharing tid bits of our lives or having real conversation (in person?, electronic?) – sharing thoughts and ideas? Sometimes it seems that the tid bits are substituting for real connection. Is that because we are all too busy – and are we all too busy because we feel the need to have all these "life lines" ? hmmmmm…. btw can you tell I am new to facebook – still trying to figure out this medium?