A person may be a person no matter how far but treating people as "individuals" is impossible to the human mind and the effort to do so smacks of Gnostic rejection of the earth. When people try to think of those they don't know solely as individuals they end up thinking of them as members of a crowd. If I see a man with a turban and a kirpan and think "Sikh" and then think of traditions of epic battles and legends that is far better then seeing him and thinking "thing not me". Maybe it would be even better to think of him as someone with needs and desires of his own but I cannot tell that without knowing him.

The false high-mindedness of thinking that universal charity must needs eliminate particular obligation is simply the old error of choosing one aspect of morality and neglecting others. It is also an easy dodge. Very few of those who think all men are brothers really behave toward them as a brother would expect to be treated.