TO BE HUMAN.
A person's life - experiences, memories - is everything.
It's what makes you, you. And us, us.
TO BE ALIVE.
I love this clip because it is incredibly human and incredibly us. It's comical, beautiful, and tragic, but it's full of the assurance that we are not alone.
There's a guy who raises his hand for the bugger question . . . and he raises it high and proud, which is radically embarrassing, t least it should be, but when others raise their hands too, it suddenly isn't so embarrassing - it's communal. Not everyone is raising their hands but you, me, and the guy raising his hand know there are others that should be. Like the guy pretending to scratch his chin but is really just fidgeting because he knows the truth, that has eaten buggers well beyond childhood, he's just too embarrassed to say so. But that's okay, we forgive him too because we know his greater fear is being discovered as a imperfect, as a fraud. And that too is fully human.
To be human is to be imperfect, because life is imperfect. It leaves socks in our pants and relationships broken as we frantically search for a redo button . . . in real life.
BUT NONE OF US HAS A REDO BUTTON, AND THAT CONNECTS US.
In an interview on Fresh Air, Carrie Fischer (Princes Laiah) was being questioned about her new book and some of the secrets she was revealing to the public. The question was asked, "Have you ever had any consequences for over sharing?" Yes was her reply, but she didn't care. "Oversharing" she says, "is my way of trying to understand myself . . . I get out of my head. It creates communitywhen you talk about private things because you can ind other people who have the same things. Otherwise, I don't know, I felt very lonely with some of the" she pauses to think, "issues that I had or history that I had and when I shared about it I found that others had it too."
To be human is to connect and live in community - perhaps even a make-shift village type community. And to be human is to hope. And to love.
Humanity is not defined by religion, sexual preference, or color of skin. These are what define us as individuals - these are what create the unique You.
Humanity, the collective gathering of us, is life shared. Life that is harsh and cruel yet not without hope and love. We are not alone. And we are not just shells, driven by mindless instincts.
We are human, members of the human race, and we are in it together.
"We can move towards hope, that's what's beautiful about this place. We must not run from heartache . . . Heartache is a part of life, we know that now. Ivy is running towards hope, let her run. If this place is worthy, she will be successful in her quest."
And,
"THE WORLD MOVES FOR LOVE. IT KNEELS BEFORE IT IN AWE."
And that is encouraging, because that is human.