By Brandon Nakasato

Brandon Nakasato is an educational administrator at the University of British Columbia and currently working to revive the WFM-Canada Vancouver Branch. He is the former chairperson of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights and founder of the community engagement nonprofit, Our Commonwealth.

Featured Poem

Humanity is an Idea

Homo sapiens is a fact of nature
but humanity is an idea borne by our nature.
If one says “I am a human,”
one speaks of a natural coincidence.
If one says “I am a member of humanity,”
then one speaks of an ancient idea.
Humanity is an idealistic nation.
It both
does not yet exist
and currently exists in
the beating hearts
and the brimming minds
of the teeming striving masses.
And is constantly imminent
in actions of recognition.
We may call the best of us
humanitarians,
but we all know
the best of us
is within each of us.
So I rub my stomach in hunger
and scratch my head in wonder
for my desire to build that nation.
Because all subdivisions
while currently more tangible
pale by comparison to that dream.
Recognize the humanity of others
and you too are a nation-builder.