Hello my fellow human friends! I hope everyone had a good 8 hour sleep last night and none of your emotions feel overbearing today. Buckle up because this may be a roller coaster (specifically kingda-ka for my NJ readers- that straight up and straight down situation).
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be “human”
When I’m lazy, depressed and/or unmotivated I find myself begging to “be human”
“Be human and do your laundry”
“Be human and cook some dinner.”
“Be human and socialize”
“Be human and go to work.”
But being human also means allowing the room for pure, plain, existence.
Humans at heart are simple creatures, who end up choosing complexity in many different notions of everyday lives.
Disclaimer: Since everyone reading this is in fact - human, I’m not expecting to be bringing any new information to the table, maybe just a little bit of un-asked for perspective (per usual)
The entire transaction between ‘the human’ and ‘the life’ is curated through the process of undergoing a relationship. No escaping that. The concept itself between ‘human’ and ‘the experience’ is built upon relation to each other. Relationship with self, relationship with nature, relationship with food, money, love. Relationship with relationships. (This word is starting to sound funny and lose it’s meaning now, you get it).
Humans are funny two-legged creatures that wake up every morning, go to bed every night (well..hopefully) and somewhere in between live that vast, infinite amount of experience that creates who we are and how we show up.
I’ve become increasingly aware and curious of what the human experience means to me, and decided to open up my Notes App every time I thought of something that only humans experience.
So here is my ‘Funny Human Things that Humans do’ list:
-It’s sweet and noble when cars turn their high beams off for one another when approaching another car even though it’s common courtesy.
-It’s cute how we say “good morning” to each other, even if subconsciously/ out of habit. It’s endearing. And it stops once the clock hits 12 pm, it turns almost slightly embarrassing to wish someone a Good Morning while not being morning.
-I think it’s funny when someone has the same name as you. Both parties smile and think it’s the craziest thing. When really, the name may just be generic. You try to find similarities in each other for those few passing moments, you try to see yourself how others see you, which never goes far because well… they aren’t you.
-Names in general are funny. A conjunction of syllables and sounds that we answer to and identify ourselves as.
-High fives are sweet too. A true commencement of a “good job”, simplified down to two palms hitting each other for a spare second.
-When we drive, we listen to music. We hum along or tap our fingers or bob our heads. I feel lucky to get to choose from the infinite range of melodies, and the prospect of matching said melodies with our moods.
-We go to the gym, which I like to think of as an adult jungle gym. We must move our human bodies in all different ways to maintain health and energy. Going to the adult jungle gym allows us to shape shift our bodies over time in ways we choose
-We have the ability to go to a grocery store and pick out our favorite foods that our taste buds acquire for us. We get to cook whatever we’re craving, eat whenever we’d like, however much we want. Imagine being a dog and eating those same hard, brown, rocks in the same steel bowl at the same times, every single day.
-We have plentiful options of what flavor and color drink we drink. Juice has to be one of the most fun human things. We get to drink bright pink, strawberry flavored liquids when we’re in need of something refreshing on a hot summers day. Any color. Any flavor. How fun is that?!?!
-We gift each other birthday cards with heartfelt messages in them.
-We laugh when we find things funny, and cry when we find them sad. All out of natural reflex.
The human experience is meant for enjoying, growing, learning and loving.
It’s meant for picking out fun outfits, watching our favorite shows and building relationships. Maybe even dancing in the rain.
Initially I planned to make this essay lighthearted and positive but we’ve managed to warp this beautiful “human experience” into a buttload of stress, worry, fear, anger, and war. I can’t sit here and admire the human existence whilst knowing the dreadful pain that comes along with it.
Because guess what?
Only humans commit mass murders. Only humans use artificial weaponry. Only humans litter and pollute. Only humans kidnap. Only humans can commit suicide. Only humans commit slavery. Only humans take away other humans rights.
Human beings have simultaneously created and destroyed the most beautiful world that we could’ve had.
I am the first person to understand that its “all about your mindset”, that you “have to find the positive in everything” but what we need to also understand is you don’t have to be negative, to face the negative.
In this day, as of right now, the human experience is far from lighthearted and positive.
There is no positive in the fear of bringing kids to school. There is no positive about the nuclear war that’s upon us. There is no positive about our very Earth dying beneath our feet. There is no positive about living and breathing a 9-5 and still not affording life. There is no positive that girls hates their bodies from the emphasis on social media standards. There is no positive woman are scared to walk alone at any time, not even only at night. There is no positive about going backwards on Women’s rights. There is no positive that millions of people are homeless, unfed, and don’t have clean water meanwhile we are funding extreme Space travel and god knows whatever else.
Nobody has inflicted all of these sufferings on us, besides us.
It’s human vs. human out here. We are killing ourselves left and right and not gaining a single thing. We’re doing something wrong. For the creatures who have the most adept and intelligible brain, why can’t we figure it out?
I often think about how far we’ve came. The Earth started off as dirt and now we have roads that can lead you anywhere, shopping malls to buy anything, cities with buildings towering over us, airplanes, jobs, modern houses in modern neighborhoods, ring doorbells? Like tf? We are so medically advanced. We have everything we could ever imagine, and yet we still want more. We don’t realize we have everything already, and are actively killing it. Killing each other.
Humans have the means to destroy anything we put our hands on, but we can also (and quite literally do) destroy things that are intangible too.
We destroy trust, friendship, compassion, joy, and love.
We can’t touch a relationship, but we can surely ruin one.
A simple creature, with a complex enough mind to have the ability to destroy things we can’t even grasp with our own fingers.
Humans man, if there is anything worth saving, we are already in the process of killing it.
The relationships between Man vs. Man, Man vs. Media, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Money are corrupt and have no clear endgame.
Why?
Humans are simple creatures who choose complexity.
It feels unfair to carry these worldly burdens within ourselves, but it’s more unfair to us to ignore them.
It feels unfair that I intended this to be happy and now it’s heavy.
It feels unfair that the human experience was intended to be free and lively, instead it’s scary and unjust.
It feels unfair that I’m writing this in my bed while families are mourning their children that they quickly rushed off to school that day.
It feels unfair that the only thing the public feels like they can do is share viral social media postings about the tragedy.
It feels unfair that we feel helpless.
And it is. It is unfair.
I don’t have any answers, and none of us can singlehandedly do anything. The best thing we can do is continue to stay knowledgeable, support our communities, and use our voices the best we can. Put yourself in someone elses shoes and allow yourself to feel that pain, allow the time and room to feel these tragedies longer than what they’re viral for.
This is real life.
This is the human experience.
A buttload of contradictory feelings.
And I’m sorry if this was a real downer, but I can’t bypass the real human experience that we are existing in, in this very moment.
I love you all, go tell someone you love them too, and be grateful to be you.