Monday, March 2, 2020

I Have a NAME



I Have a NAME...


I am not a Number
I am not an AGE
I am not a Date Of Birth
I am not an Income Level
I am not a Bank Statement
I am not a Social Security Number
I am not my Driver's License
or State ID Number

I Have a Name.

Referring to me by my gender, my age, my income (or the
lack thereof), my bank statement, my Social Security number
and so forth serves no useful purpose other than to display
a person's personal details, which is Very de-valuing,
very de-humanizing. But at once both very impersonal,
and deeply personal....

My Gender, My age, my Date of Birth, My Social
Security Number.... all of it is very private and no one's
business. Yet, continually put on full and open public
display that is silver plattered (up) for Identity Theft.

I Have a Name.

Being reduced to nothing more than a series of numbers,
my numbers; a gender; age, date of birth, Residence,
Income Level, Bank Statement... When none of it is relative.
Yet, my entire life history stripped away number by number.
Your privacy and private details of your life...having your age,
date of birth, Social Security Number and all your other
numbers, billboarded for anyone and everyone, your
life fully open on display in variations of our numbers.

I have absolutely zero tolerance for constantly being
reduced to a series of numbers; my numbers,
and a gender. I am not a number.

I Have a NAME

Still, my entire life history is stored within them all. While being
referred to as a number or sets of numbers is not who I am and
serves no other purpose than to de-humanize the person
behind the numbers, while giving all your personal
information to the world...

But all these places, especially in regards to the Government,
immediately reduces you to your numbers, forcing you to give
every single digit to them at every turn, then not acknowledging you
as a living, breathing, human being. The first thing that is always
asked of you/always “Required” of you; What is your AGE?/What is
Your Date of Birth?/When were you born?/How OLD are you?....
No matter which way they choose, that is always the first thing
they insist on knowing... your AGE. WHY? Why is your AGE so
important for them to KNOW? Serving no purpose than to add
to their chart because the forms state AGE/DOB/Birthdate
But if you ask theirs, they refuse to respond, telling
you “it is none of our business, we need to
know your numbers, not ours”.

That makes it easier to dismiss you when you are
nothing more than a number, or a series/set of numbers.
Having to give your vital details while being
dismissed as a living person.

Then on top of all the numbers you are referred to, they
demand all your information, stripped bare and put up
for sale; your Mother's Maiden name, your father's full name,
where you were born, the City/Town/State and date it
occurred and when, the time it happened, where you
grew up, what school(s) you went to, the street(s) you
lived on, who you know, how you know them, what your
relation to them are, what grades you received,
places you have been, what you eat, where you shop.

I Have a Name. I Have Presence.
My Identity....I am a Sentient Being.
I am not an IT, I am NOT a NUMBER.

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