whether universally gleaned truth, 
socially constructed prejudice, or 
biologically useful heuristic, 
we humans love our generalizations. 

but maybe 
it is not the pattern copied, but 
the individual thing itself 
that matters. 

do you know these shapes? 
do you automatically believe that 
you know what they mean? 
could you know it, without knowing 
the people who've built it? 

why are we so certain we know 
what we cannot possibly know? 
is curiosity and empathy really 
prohibitively exhausting?