One could say politics is dominated by statistics: the healthcare proposal in Congress will affect 14 million people; Candidate A is leading candidate B by 5 points in this week’s poll; Congressman X has a 75 percent approval rating.

Getting lost in these numbers can be easy, and failing to comprehend their significance often seems natural. When you see figures on almost a daily basis, and when so many policy proposals are being debated at a specific time, one must ask: how many people is a significant number? How many hundreds, thousands, or even millions must be affected by something before we, the public, take notice? When the federal government spends trillions of dollars on an annual basis, is a $300 million contract worth taking notice of?

Or, in a country measured in the hundreds of millions, how many people must a policy help before we consider how many it hurts?

My point here is not to make an argument on any single proposal, but right now, several significant topics are being debated on the Congressional floors. Immigration has clearly emerged as an issue many hope to be remedied, healthcare debate has continued (unfinished) for months, leaving many in limbo, and Congress seems prepared to act on tax reform in the coming months.

Getting lost in the numbers can be easy, especially considering how widespread of an impact these policies have. Everyone is responsible for paying taxes. Everyone must take care of their health to some degree, regardless of their age. And, even the hardliners must admit that immigration is a cornerstone of this nation.

The United States was built by immigrants or the children of immigrants. If we can maintain the hope of an immigrant just arriving, our nation would be much farther ahead.

But, regardless of the position one supports, remembering the individual is essential in these debates. Humans have very little capacity to imagine the magnitude of even “2 million.” To comprehend, count by ones. If this seems unimaginable, consider a policy that affects 15 million people. Or 30.

We must not allow ourselves to be the slave of statistics; we cannot accept policies because they follow our ideology but could hurt millions. Though difficult, we must try to maintain a sense of humanity in large, distant statistics.

Earlier this week, I read about a 10-year-old girl who is (depending on your verbiage preference) an undocumented/illegal immigrant. Brought to the US by her parents at age 3, this girl suffers from cerebral palsy, and as she recovered from treatment from a surgery she received, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) waited for her release to detain her. They did this even though immigration policy specifically names a hospital as one of “sensitive locations” where ICE should avoid performing arrests.

Clearly, this girl is not a pressing threat to the United States, and this incident might be one of negligence or failure to follow procedure. And, thankfully, the girl has been released following a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Regardless, remembering individuals like this little girl is imperative when crafting policy.

But, remembering the individual goes both ways: providing blanket promises of safe-haven to people who made intentional decisions to unlawfully enter the country is unfair to those who follow the system and wait years to come to this country.

Remembering what the “one” in “one-million” means is not for political purposes, as some politicians abuse in rhetorical tactics, but to recall the importance of individual humanity when making policy decisions.

This logic can be applied not just to immigration, but any policy. If we consider the individual impact of the policies we support, we can avoid getting lost in the numbers. No policy will be perfect, and unfortunately, sometimes people are left behind.

But, if we can at least try to remember the individual, then hopefully our nation’s policies will be a little kinder and a little more humane. And, even if theoretically nothing changed, we can live in good conscience knowing that we made a full, deliberate attempt to make fair and just policies.

Join me on Twitter.