Criterion

I don't gauge you by the pigmentation
In your skin or the lack thereof,
Too old fashioned to gauge your beauty
By the way you handle the kitchen stove,
It ain't by the length of your hair on your head,
Nor the wealth and fame of your parents, alive or dead,
Nor the pitch of your voices when you talk,
Nor the length and shape of your legs on which you walk;
Nor the kind of car on which you ride,
Nor the luxury of the home you reside,
Nor your brute-force earned degree and 'scholarly' shine,
Nor the dogmatic moral rules you follow (unoriginal by design),
That I gauge your unique person
For these are commonplace
Brainless societal sine qua non.
But I gauge you by the sovereignty,
By the degree of independence you grant your mind,
By your unchained, unique, faculty of reasoning,
And other mental qualities rare to find.