Since I was young I was never afraid to speak up. I have no idea where this mentality came from, but it’s been something that I was always comfortable with. It has helped me in every part of my life for the good and the bad.

It has opened up opportunities for me and closed them. It has made me friends and made me lose them. And for all the good it’s done, it’s done twice a bad for me.

So you may ask “But Alexander, why oh why do you continue to speak up? Why don’t you just shut up and mind your own?”

I mean, don’t get me wrong. We’ve been taught to look the other way when things don’t align with our personal beliefs, motifs, or schedules. Protect ourselves, our careers, our well-being. Told to “Not be vulnerable” (Whatever that means). Put up walls and try to break others down. Play it safe and watch your back. Hell, with all this negative stuff people throw at you — I don’t blame anyone for not speaking up.

Yeah, of course, I know what you’re thinking, but you know what? We have all had similar — if not exactly the same experiences. We all have got manipulated into doing things against our wills. We all have had an endless amount of toleration for things that we might not accept. We have all cried because someone had made us feel like crap and we didn’t tell them. We’ve all laughed and had no one to share it with. We’ve all had stories we’ve felt like we couldn’t share in fear of judgement. And, of course, we all have put hierarchy on the pedestal of leading our lives — hoping that one day the crown will shift in our favor.

Fuck all that.

But wait — let me ask you this. What have you done when any of these issues have occured? What happens when you have something to say that someone probably needs to hear — are you going to sit in your desk, headphones on, reading this article — saying “Oh, hey, they’ll figure it out. It’s none of my business” and take another sip of your coffee as you continue to scroll more pixels away.

Please, stop. Here’s some insight. People are all of our business whether you like it or not. It’s the one thing we all have collectively in common. So, if you wanna do well at least one “business”? Get up off your ergonomic chair, take off your Sennheisers, put down your third latte, and start making people a priority.

I tell you this my friends, stop looking into other’s mirrors to find yourself. Start looking into your own. Speak up for yourself, be a person. Treat other’s as people. Did you hear me? Unless your boss, friend, coworker, child, sibling, or parent is some sort of alien from another planet who has super human powers and can control shit with their mind and fly through space or make fucking corn dogs from . . . I don’t know. . . a Chevy Impala or something.

Talk to them like a person.

See them like a person. Live with them like you both are two people on our planet. And if the case in relevant, love them like a person. No matter who it is. People are just that — people. They’re a person just like you — despite title, status, looks, gender, disabilities, or whatever other stupid descriptive trait you can attribute to someone.

Be a person today — speak up — and connect with one of your kind.