Everyday Canvas

Being Human

Prompt: What does being human mean to you? What constitutes an example of being human?

----------------------

To me, being human means striving for right vision, right thinking, and right action, in other words, reaching for the ethics of being, so life can contain beauty and dignity. Being human also means the tolerance of oneself in making mistakes and the wisdom of learning from them. Being human is accepting others can be fallible, too, and if possible, forgiving them.

A true human knows that bad behavior, even that of villains, criminals, and terrorists, is not predestined but is manufactured by rotten circumstances and societies.

A true human does not have to accept whatever he is told, but he chooses to think for himself and come to the right conclusion by himself. He corrects himself when he finds out he has misinterpreted any person or situation.

A true human accepts other people together with their beliefs, their views and ways of life, colors, and backgrounds, and even appreciates their differences. It is the responsibility of the human being to work toward making the world a better place and help others as much as he can, in the ways that he can, be it at least one person at a time, or a few people, or communities.

The true human knows that there is a positive lesson in every life experience and true beauty lives under the skin, and that as long as he lives, there will always be something more to learn. He also knows it is fine to feel sorrow for a short while, because after the grieving period, he’ll see the opportunity to grow and rebuild himself, to become the brilliant person he can be.

The choices a true human makes designs his personal life, as he has a choice to be the best he can be each day. He has the choice to appreciate what he has, choice to appreciate the present moment, the choice to make time for himself, choice to do something to make himself or another person smile, choice to laugh at his own silliness, choice to be persistent with his goal, choice to try over and over again.

Human beings, their having special physical attributes and an identical genetic coding as the great apes aside, are marvels of nature. Yet, are they superior over other life? That remains to be proven.

Scientists assert that being human or expressing our humanity depends on our highly developed brain and its frontal lobes, and that no other species has been endowed with this natural gift. This is a concept I haven’t bought into as of now, no matter what any religion, science, or belief insists on it. I think other life and humans are just different from each other, despite the claims that humans’ reasoning and feelings are superior.

Examples of those who are true humans are all around us. Just look for those persons who don’t cultivate negative emotions inside themselves and are rational, accepting, tolerant, empathizing, helpful, and always working on to better themselves and the world around them, regardless of their own backgrounds, life experiences, education, and wealth or the lack of it.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Note: Now that this entry has turned into a sermon, I am kicking myself for not making fun of the questions asked (Okay, so I asked them). I need to be silly, now. I can't be this serious all the time.

Anyway, I hope any true human's behavior will be an encouragement to others, something like, "Monkey see, monkey do."