“There is but one race, the human race.” This was the declaration of Robert Purvis. However, throughout history, all over the world, the human race has divided itself into separate groups: gender, color, religion, nationality, and sexual preference. The most important trait, that all of mankind shares, is that we are all human.

Society uses the perception that individuals are different because of the color of their skin, but in reality we are actually more the same then we are different. This reality is discussed in a 2003 November article of Scientific American titled “Does Race Exist?” The article concluded, “Two people of different ‘races’ can share more genetic similarity than two of the same race.” The perception of race as defined by the color of skin is unfounded. The color of an individual’s skin is relative to ancestral home’s distance from the equator. Those who developed in countries closer to the equator have darker skin color and those who developed in countries farther away have lighter skin color.

Mankind defines humanity as collective and the quality of being humane. It seems that society has forgotten this defining aspect of humanity. Society categorizes people and determines how it treats individuals through trivial differences. For example, women are given lower pay because they are seen unsuitable for certain jobs. Protestant and Catholic are both part of the Christian faith, and yet centuries ago they split in two over the opinions of Martin Luther. The Sunni and Shiites are both apart of the Muslim religion, but shed each others blood under the name of Jihad. In America, teens from the same neighborhoods senselessly kill each other over trivial differences, like the color of a shirt. When mankind establishes differences between individuals, and divides itself, it loses its quality of being humane.

As long as the human race sees with eyes of judgment, and lives with hearts filled with prejudice, civilization will never reach its full potential. Humanity will never accomplish fully all that is possible. Humanity’s conviction is that no matter who you are, or where you are from, everyone shares basic needs, desires, and emotions. If each person could understand that every other shares the same sorrows, joys, basic temptations, heartache, and remorse as their own how much kinder, gentler they would be.

In order for mankind to reach its full potential, society must throw aside all the barriers that separate individuals into groups. Mankind must no longer identify itself by labels such as black or white, American or Mexican, Christian or Muslim, and unite together as one body working together.

Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.