Hierarchies give us ways to grade things and put them in order, which is helpful -- UNLESS we use them to grade human beings.

What I call "hierarchies of human worth" create unnecessary trouble for everyone.

At this painful and chaotic time in American history, we are struggling under multiple hierarchies of human worth: race, gender, sexual orientation, wealth level, and religiosity, to name a few.

Each of these hierarchies damages the emotional functioning, empathic capacities, and social functioning of everyone trapped within them. UNLESS people understand how these hierarchies work and how to address that damage, no matter where you land in them.

Hierarchies of human worth lead us in ugly, painful, and ultimately worthless directions. There are better ways to structure human traits, human activities, and human cu ...