Global Humanity: We, The People

Reading about ongoing acts of terror and destruction around the world and people who use their interpretation of religious teachings as an excuse to hurt or kill others makes me wonder about humanity, makes me wonder if we are really as smart, special and evolved as we like to believe.

With all we think we know, with all we've learnt about the world and about the universe, everything we've achieved in fields like science, technology and medicine, somehow many of us still seem to believe that it is right or just to kill living beings, to keep people as slaves, to treat others as property and hurt people for not following rules some believe are right.

Last week, I wrote this post entitled Violence, Death, Destruction... in which I wrote about a number of horrible attacks that took place, attacks by people who support terror, brutality and injustice. Wanting to write about what's going on in the world yet desiring to write something positive and inspiring instead of a doom and gloom post, I wrote a few words accompanied by quotes found online. This post is the result.

“Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. 
Well, there’s really an easy way: Stop participating in it.”
― Noam Chomsky

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Terror will lead to more terror. Hatred will lead to more hatred. Killing will lead to more killing. Destruction will lead to more destruction. Injustice will lead to more injustice. One attack leads to another attack, one murder leads to more murders. As long as we keep on hurting and killing others, the cycle of violence, death and destruction will only continue.

“For peace to reign on Earth, humans must evolve 
into new beings who have learned to see the whole first.”
― Immanuel Kant

Will we ever learn that by hurting others, we are only hurting ourselves and our own people? Will we ever learn that by killing others, we are killing our own brothers and sisters and cousins? Will we ever learn that war, destruction, rape, injustice, terror and death are not the way to achieve peace, respect, understanding, justice and equality for all?

“Try to understand men. If you understand each other 
you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well 
never leads to hate and almost always leads to love.”
― John Steinbeck

Your truth, my truth. His truth, her truth.
Your side, my side. His side, her side.
Your values, my values. His values, her values.
Your beliefs, my beliefs. His beliefs, her beliefs.
Your language, my language. His language, her language.
Your country, my country. His country, her country.
Your people, my people. His people, her people.
Your right, my rights. His rights, her rights.

Peace and compassion. Love and justice. Equality and freedom. Cooperation and trust. Kindness and Shouldn't that be what we strive for, instead of making something 'yours' or 'ours' or 'mine'? We all have truths we cling to. We all have people we side with. We all have values we hold dear. We all believe something. We all speak human languages. We all live in countries. We all are people. And as long as we do not hurt others by doing so, we should all be free to live our lives as feels right to us.

“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

We will not learn to live with others unless we learn about them. We will not be able to live in peace with others unless we respect their rights, their views, their uniqueness and their way of life. Learning about others, learning to see life from their point of view, walking that mile in their shoes, viewing the world through their eyes, that will only make us richer, give us new insights and help us be better human beings.

“Act in such a way that you treat humanity, 
whether in your own person or in the person 
of any other, never merely as a means to an end, 
but always at the same time as an end.”
― Immanuel Kant

The world is made up of many different people, all with their own stories, their own beliefs, their own thoughts and feelings. Getting to know those we share the world with will help us understand them, will help us see that most of them are not nearly as alien or 'other' as we may fear. In fact, we might find that others are much more like us than we first thought and that we are very similar, when push comes to shove.

“We all do better when we work together. 
Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.”
― Bill Clinton

We love our families, cherish our friends, take care of our children, we love and cry, we smile and frown, we think and desire, we hope and dream. My thoughts, beliefs and dreams are no doubt different from yours, yes. However that is the beauty of humanity, that we are all unique and different, that we all think our own thoughts and dream our own dreams. We are all individuals, all special.

“Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. 
If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred 
billion galaxies, you will not find another.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos 

When we learn to see the world as another does, learn to share their hopes, cherish their dreams and think their thoughts, we become more compassionate and loving, more understanding and inclusive. We learn to see that we are, underneath our surface differences, all very much the same We are one great family of humanity, one very diverse and different collection of unique people who live their own lives and dream their own dreams yet all live on the same hunk of rock travelling through space, who are all stuck together for better or for worse. I only hope that one day we will all learn to get along, that we will stop acting like angry and selfish children and start acting like responsible adults capable of true decency and humanity.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, 
the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche