A Little Fact About Humanity
A Little
Fact About Humanity
“A bad situation can’t create a person; it
just brings into light what was already there.”
Most
people are always bringing up a specific phrase whenever they make a mistake:
“I’m only human.” This is pertaining to the fact that we, as humans, are
ultimately flawed and will never be perfect. This is absolutely true, but the
fact remains that humanity is most times associated with the fact that we have
flaws and that we’ll always make mistakes. Well, I’m here to tell you that this
could be far from the truth! Sure we’re destined to always be flawed, but our
humanity is not the cause of this. The world itself is flawed, and since we are
of the world, we too are not perfect- but it is our humanity that allows us to
overcome each mistake we make and correct them. Humanity is the ability to
conquer your flaws.
There
are 4 components that when put together, show the full and untapped potential
in us all. These are:
- Hope
- A sense of Justice
- Compassion
- Stubbornness
Hope
Hope
can be defined as a feeling of longing or a desire for something to happen. We
see examples of this every day, a homeless man hoping he’ll get food or money,
a student hoping they got decent marks on the exams, whatever the case may be
all these instances have one thing in common. It seemed as if they’d never get
what they were hoping for. Their situation was contradicting their wish, and
there was no logical way they could ever get what it is they longed for- Yet
they still sit and believe that their hope alone is enough to place things in
their favour. Surely you must know the feeling? And at the end of the day when
they don’t get whatever it is they want, they wake up the next day determined
and ready to try again. Cars need gas to function, and our bodies need food to
keep us alive, so too does our soul need hope to help us persevere through our
experiences. Life is only a matter of perspective is it not? And with hope, one
is able to see the world from a different lens, to change from a gloomy present,
to what may be a glorious future. It is hope that allows us as humans to see
past the current reality and to view the path ahead in its entirety.
A Sense Of
Justice
Morality
is a very delicate topic, but you’d be wrong if you think I’m here to talk
about that. No, it doesn’t matter how you view Justice, what matters is your
willingness to enact it. See the definition of Justice is vague as hell because
Justice to one man could be chaos to another- but at the end of the day both
have a right to carry out their versions of it. Each of us live life by our own
moral codes, whether it’s one we thought up consciously, or one we stick to due
to our observations of the world around us no matter which, you’ll factor this
code in almost every decision you make. It’s basically a part of your
personality. What you do, unless thoroughly convinced otherwise will be a
factor of this code, and in turn how you see life. It’s why schools, parents
and other figures of authority want to shape your mind into their way of seeing
things, because they believe that it is the only “right” way to see the world.
Though the more people you meet, and the older you grow can allow you to shape
your own, unique perspective.
Compassion
The dictionary definition of compassion, is
to feel sympathetic towards the misfortunes of those around you. Compassion is
the second most important aspect of our humanity, as unlike our sense of
justice it is not subjective. It is the desire to help those around you who are
in pain. It can be an unstoppable weapon, as compassion allows people to form
friendships, gain allies, start relationships, get more support from the
community around them and so much more. It’s like a virus, one act of pure
compassion can echo through the world no matter how small. It can push us to go
to heights we did not know we could reach because we begin to realize it’s not
only about us, we are not alone in this struggle for survival, and as such we
need to take responsibility for those around us. It is our greatest weapon
against fear, yes FEAR, man’s most dangerous emotion, can be defeated with
compassion. How do you ask? Let’s take those of you who have social anxiety and
plop you into this situation- A stranger at your school/place of work is
starving, and you have to overcome your fear to try and get them something to
eat by talking to the people at the cafeteria. Or those of us who fear
confrontation with all our hearts,
witness someone being bullied. Yes stereotypical scenario, but tell me how many
times have you looked the other way, or just shrugged it off and decided not to
care? Or maybe you just sat and watched. Even though there may be a part of you
that said you should find some way to help- and please note you don’t have to
straight up fight them, use your wits, communicate and if that doesn’t work
call the authorities, at least do something.
Because of the absence of compassion, the triumph of fear is when we
disregard those around us. At the end of the day, compassion represents the
best in us. It shows us who you truly are under the skin and bones.
Stubbornness
This
may be my favorite segment. I have a certain bias towards stubbornness as it’s
probably the most important and most complex aspect of our humanity. Now
whenever someone’s called stubborn it’s usually as an insult. Even the
dictionary definition paints it in a bad light. But what if I told you it’s the
only reason we’re alive today. Yep. The only reason humans walk the earth right
now is because of how damn stubborn we are as a species.
Ancient
Greece, Ancient Rome, Lemuria, the Aztecs, and the Mayans were all once
technologically advanced civilizations, till it seemed they reached the peak of
their success and were only demolished from there. Sure these are all but small
fractions of the world, but they were popular enough to make it into world
history. Their technology was far beyond their time, and just like that they
were wiped out leaving no trace behind. Africans were dragged from their homes
to foreign lands to work on plantations, and tens of thousands of them died
during this period. And yet even with those two examples in mind, Thomas Edison
still created the light bulb, which would further advance our technology, and I
as a black person am able to share the same privileges as the same race that
enslaved mine. Despite the universe saying nay, we still did what we wanted and
excelled in life. There’s a certain saying in Jamaica “When trouble ketch yuh, pickney
shut fit yuh” and it simply means when you're in trouble, you’ll somehow be
able to do the impossible to get out of it. I feel as if Stubbornness is a
factor of two things, desperation
and resilience. It is our
desperation that keeps us aligned to our goals and our resilience that allows
us to ignore the universe's past signals and move forward. This is humanity’s
most powerful tool. Imagine, we’ve failed again, and again, and again, and
again and if you look at the state of the world today we are still failing, yet
that doesn’t stop people from going out and fighting for their hopes, it’s what
keeps them attached to their sense of Justice, and it’s what allows us to
complete the hardest tasks when we're committing an act of compassion.
This is how it all comes together.
None
can function without the other. They all come together in the end, with
Stubbornness being the main link. It’s what keeps us clung to hope, our moral
code and our drive to help those around us. When we are in the headspace, no
one can convince us otherwise. These four aspects, while present in everyone,
aren't as strong in all humans as one would believe. It is the hard moments,
the ones we truly hate that act as a test of our Humanity. It is the strength
of our Humanity that allows us to survive, to flourish in this world.
Scientists always say the natural advantage humans have over animals is our
intelligence. And I say horse crap. Our advantage over the other creatures on
this earth is our complexity, our personality our
Humanity.
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