Before labels arrive with their heavy luggage—race, nation, class—there is laughter. Before history hands us scripts and hierarchies, there is recognition. Two children meet and find no difference worth naming. The mirror shows what adulthood forgets: inequality is learned, not born; division is taught, not natural. Strip away the costumes of circumstance and what remains is astonishingly simple—joy recognizes joy. Humanity is not something we negotiate later. It’s the starting point.
