“Who are you?”
When is the last time that you asked yourself that question? How long has it been since you looked away from the mirror of influence, of reputation, of ego, and looked at the human that stands before you. Not the human you THINK others want to see, not the human you believe you NEED to be, but the human you are and asked yourself: “Who are you?”
Are you a sibling? A parent? A neighbor? A friend? A confidant? Are you tall? Short? Do you enjoy laughing? Smiling? Do you love?
We are made up of infinites, vast seas of understanding and comprehension but also of fear and ignorance. An evolutionary need to avoid pain and seek the safety of status-quo but also a human obligation to rise above those base instincts that, while helpful in our history, are vestigial now, bringing nothing but a false sense of comfort to the obstacles in creating the world that we wish to see.
How long has it taken us to realize that we need to be human, and in that humanity kind? When we err, we are embarrassed, ashamed, and apologetic, yet when others err, we see them as incompetent, unkind, unwise, foolish. Our position is from a place of love and reason, yet their position is from a place of hate and ignorance.
Who are you? When you look in that mirror, are you kind? When you see someone hurting, do you hurt?
We are all born human. Equals. Empty vessels of potential. Yet somewhere along the way, we begin to shape -or rather are shape by- our environments. These environments teach us at times that it is EASIER to harden yourself to the pain of suffering that is not our own by turning away. That it is RIGHT to focus on the conditions and elements that make us feel comfortable and settled. That the TRUTHs of our environments outweigh the truths of our existence, that we are human.
I feel, and I hope you do as well, closer to my humanity in recent days. Because once you strip away the assumption that systems can’t be flawed, what else is there? If instead we believe our stories, what becomes easier to believe? That humans are wrong or that a system that was built by us needs fixing?
So, I ask again: Who are you? Are you a neighbor? An ally?
In turning away your hand to your fellow man, the only thing that is accomplished is pain. The pain of rejection, the pain of negation, and the pain of humanity misled. Take a look in the mirror, away from the influences of reputation, ego, and circumstance and ask yourself: Am I Human?