Person

A couple days ago, Zadie picked up one of her favorite objects, a Lego car, and started playing with it happily--till she noticed it didn't have a driver. "Person! Need person! PERSON!!!" she shrieked, with increasing panic. We happened to have a visitor over, drinking tea and chatting with Brent a.k.a. Father Bates, so I fixed things the quickest way possible: I dashed downstairs and grabbed the first Lego person from our inherited laundry basket o' Legos that I could find. Which was a dog.

Person the Lego Doggie

Not particularly caring, I dashed back upstairs and handed it to Zadie. "Person," I announced, quelling her panic, and she happily clicked Person the Lego Doggie into the car and zoomed around the floor completely content. Zadie knows Person is a doggie but Person is also a person, as far as she's concerned. Unburdened with the philosophical baggage and suspicious history this term carries she applies it inclusively. If Person the Lego Doggie can fit into the driver seat of a car, then Person the Doggie can drive the car. No biggie. And if this is something only a "person" can do, then clearly, Person the Doggie is a person.

I feel like my cyborg/goddess/dog-lover philosopher hero would be pretty happy with all this. I am. :)