My use of 'we' and 'us'

I use we and us as pronouns in these patterns in almost every discussion because I’m writing from the perspective of one member of humanity talking with other members of humanity. As I began to realize that the process of building a better world has to be a cooperative effort, it became clear that it’s not about you or me, it’s about us.

In the same spirit of gender neutral writing using they and them, I am trying to be more inclusive by using we and us. By we, I’m saying we humans or we members of humanity.

I’m completely supportive of gender-neutral language using they/them, but in the context of this writing where there’s a strong emphasis on cooperation and collaboration, I’m hesitant to use they/them because it evokes the old “us versus them” frame, or they/them as other. My use of “us” is in the most inclusive sense, meaning all humanity. From that perspective, “them” is meaningless.

These ideas of inclusivity stretch into the pattern names as well. For example, World Creators is plural because I’m not saying that just you need to become a world creator; I’m saying that we all need to be world creators. We are all in this together. I want to be a world creator and I want to help you become a world creator. I want you to see yourself as an important part of something larger than any of us individually.