What does it mean to be human?

      There is a documentary on YouTube called Human, and I have watched it many times. It was produced from interviews with 2,000 individuals from different ethnic groups and religions, living in cities or in the countryside. In the documentary, they talked about their daily lives, habits and culture. They describe their routines, suffering and struggles to survive within their societies. Despite their adverse social conditions, they don’t express anger, but rather a cry of distress. Furthermore, we can see expressions of joy, sadness and dreams, mixed with smiles and tears. The great question in this documentary is: what does it mean to be human? The answer could be: to cry, smile, dream and suffer.
        Still, I wonder and cannot find a satisfactory answer. Why do we call ourselves human and not animals, if we are also part of nature? In the end, this is not absurd, because we came from the natural evolution of species, just like them.
       Perhaps we call ourselves human because we assume that human feelings are different from those of animals. We often ignore animals’ suffering, but they probably also cry, smile and dream, and feel joy or sadness like us. On the other hand, there is something common to both animals and humans: death. Perhaps we understand our own death, while animals may sense their final moment coming, but do not understand it.
         Animals behave this way because they are part of the food chain, and we see ourselves at the top of it. For humans, this understanding of life imposes an ethic for living in society. However, economic conditions push ethics into the background, and over time, we have developed a different understanding of food chains.
       We are different from animals because we enjoy killing and hunting, and as a result, we sometimes see life as a game. The most intelligent are at the top of our particular food chain, and they do not allow others to reach them. Many people have tried to reach the top, but they have been suffocated or absorbed by this system.
      Humans deal with love as a feeling, but often hide personal interests behind it. Love helps people keep their communities together and procreate in order to keep their possessions within their families. Animals protect and support both their families and their groups, while some protect only their families and ignore their groups.
     Cruelty and kindness may also exist among animals, but human beings understand the difference between them. We are human, and despite knowing these differences, we have been indifferent and have ignored the lesson: love your neighbour as yourself. Unfortunately, our personal interests are at the top of this particular food chain.

Photo from Foto de Lachlan Dempsey na Unsplash

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#HumanDocumentary#Philosophy#Ethics#HumanNature#Sociology

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