It just slipped out. I hadn’t meant to be funny or profound. It was just a phrase my Dad just to say to me as a child. I was scared of talking to someone – potentially the principal at school. In an attempt build my courage, Dad said to me, ‘Remember he is human, just like you. He puts his [trousers] on, one leg at a time.’ (My Dad said ‘pants’ not trousers because we’re Canadian.)

So it slipped out in a meeting and my colleagues laughed. It struck a chord with them.

Often we put others on a pedastel or assume they know more than we do or are more important than us. We downgrade our knowledge, our perspective, our opinions. We embrace the imposter. But those we revere are still human. Just like us. They, too, have knowledge, perspectives, and opinions. And we can respectfully listen to them. But we can also respectfully disagree. Or share our view.

We are all human. We all put our trousers on one leg at a time. And because we are human, we all matter. Perhaps we need to not only respect (or revere) others, but also ourselves.

Photo by Leighann Blackwood