The Importance of Being Human

I think that one of the things that we tend to forget nowadays is how to be human. How to be human to others and how to consider ourselves human. Being human to others is pretty straightforward. Treating your neighbor any differently than what you would expect from them is one of the most ridiculous acts that anyone can do. Expecting the same respect from everyone else is an undeniable right that everyone deserves no matter their differences. But giving the same amount of respect to them is just as equally important. Without this expectation, we let ourselves down, and that is never good in any situation.

Being human to others shouldn’t even be that hard, right? I mean if you’re talking about refugees seeking asylum in your country, wouldn’t you let them in immediately? Would it be wrong to turn them away? Whose fault is it that they were in this predicament in the first place? These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves when it comes to treating these refugees justly and humanely. It’s a little more complicated than that, but at the same time, it shouldn’t be. The main problem is that housing hundreds upon thousands of refugees requires money, land, and effort, which are extremely hard to come by in this situation. Helping refugees isn’t necessarily in the best interest of many countries around the world. The problem is that keeping refugees in your country is not profitable in general. What I do know is that some of these people are skilled and educated in many professions, which could inadvertently grow economies, but governments around the world don’t seem to think that far ahead. What they do think about is the immediate threat of culture change and the budgeting required towards helping refugees. A little too ethnocentric for my taste. We need to realize that these people are just as human as we are, and they do not deserve being denied the right to be one.

How would you consider yourself human? Simply speaking, ask yourself. Do I breathe? Do I eat, drink, sleep? Do I communicate with other humans? The answer is most likely yes, but easy answers aren’t what we’re looking for here. Outside the realm of the physiological, I believe that being human involves a lot more interaction with other people. Do I help my fellow human? Do I protect those that cannot protect themselves? Do I make every effort to try to make others better off? Our connections with other people is truly what make us human. Our interactions with every single person in our lives is what define us. What we remember of ourselves is arbitrary. What others remember us by can last more than a lifetime. Retroactively speaking, we will feel more accomplished when we help others just because there is a broader base for our accomplishments compared to a personal one. And in the cases when we need to conquer our personal struggles, problems, and fears, having the support of a multitude of people is what truly keeps us going to accomplish our goals. What we need to ask ourselves now is if we can live with the fact that there are millions of people out there suffering from problems that have never even crossed our minds for even a second. Helping each other shouldn’t be that hard. It’s just a matter of having the initiative to make the world a better place, to be human.

Keep reading: Religion's Role On The World, Envisioning A World Of Pacifism