Experience—Human
What does it mean to be human? After all, we come in all different shapes and sizes, races and creeds. We speak different languages yet we manage to convey the same concepts.
We live in different places on the same planet, yet we are all captive to its gravity. We all laugh, we all cry, we all scream and we all struggle. If there is one constant in the experience of being human, it is simply this…
Equal amounts the same, equal amounts different.
Some of our experiences are shared, such as the joy of winning as a team or the fear of facing a pandemic. Others of our experiences are personal and individual, such as the loss of a spouse, or the destruction of a dream.
Although we may find others who have faced the same, some of our experiences are so personal that they defy communication, and are left solely to the realm of tears.
We are together, yet apart; many, and yet one.
We’re in a time right now where our experiences while human are changing from the recent past that we have enjoyed. In my almost 50 years on the planet I have, on the whole, experienced more good times than bad, more peace than chaos.
While I have had my struggles, they have tended towards more of the personal than the societal, the emotional rather than the environmental.
Overall thus far, despite its difficulties, my experience of being human has been a good one.
Yet the other day, I had a patient who told me that his father was born in 1911. For him, the First World War, the Spanish Flu epidemic, the Great Depression, the Second World War and the Cold War, with its imminent threat of nuclear destruction were the times of his life.
When you add in Vietnam, race riots, social upheaval and the incredible changes that occurred during his life, it becomes apparent that there are those who have gone before that would look upon our experiences of being human at this time as nothing more than a continuation of the way things have always been.
Yet for me, from my admittedly blessed temporal view, things seem distinctly, specifically bad.
And so as I draw these lessons from history, I am mindful that while the world seems very dark right now, in the long-term view of things, this is merely another experience during the process of being human.
That in my despair of how to set things right, I can see that humanity, for all of its drawbacks, has a tendency to find a sense of peace and balance in the midst of the darkest chaos.
That too, is part of our experience of being human.
So today, if you find yourself as worn down, discouraged and despairing as I have been with the events of the past few months, and the past few days, I would offer to you this perspective in the hopes that it might bring you the sense of peace that we are all seeking to find.
That the darkness in the world right now has been here before, and the light that seems missing will find us again. We all play our parts in the creation of that light, and in the banishment of the darkness, and in our time, we will find a way to bring things back into harmony.
For while chaos is truly a part of the experience of being human, so is finding the balance, and setting things aright.
In the end, we will come to see these times as a part of the experience of being human, and having gone through the crucible of chaos, will find in ourselves a greater appreciation for the peace which will inevitably come.
And will call ourselves blessed to have been human.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings