You know that the writing’s on the wall when your ‘Personnel Department’ becomes ‘Human Resources’. A resource like coal or electricity gets used up, and the word itself has connotations of expendability. Here are some definitions of ‘RESOURCE’ that I looked up.

Chambers:

noun source or possibility of help; an expedient; (in plural) money or means of raising money; means of support; means of occupying or amusing oneself; resourcefulness.

Verb transitive to provide the (especially financial) resources for.

Collins:

Resource (re-sōors') n. that to which one resorts, or on which one depends, for supply or support.

Note: 'to which' and 'on which', and not 'to whom' or 'on whom'.

Fowler (Modern English Usage):

No mention of anything animate (let alone human).

Microsoft Thesaurus:

Reserve (noun).

Synonyms: Reserve, supply, store, source.

Oxford:

Resource n. 1. Something to which one can turn for help or support or to achieve one's purpose. 2. A means of relaxation or amusement. 3. Ingenuity, quick wit. -resources pl.n. 1. Available assets, we pooled our resources. 2. A source of wealth to a country, natural resources such as minerals.

Roget:

Contrivance, expedient, resource, recourse, resort, card, trump, means; recipe, nostrum, remedy; loophole, way out, means of escape; artifice, device, gimmick, stratagem; wangle, fiddle, foul play; knack, trick, skill; stunt, wheeze, inspiration, idea; contraption, gadget, instrument; ad hoc measure, improvisation, makeshift, substitute; tour de force, deed.

None of these definitions mentions people.

I am not a resource. I am a person.

To refer to a person as a resource is about as inhuman as one can get.

On the next page, there is a parable on this subject.

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