esse hominem

what does it mean to be human? we all strive to be happy all the time but that isn't the human experience. we laugh. we cry. we get angry. these are all part of the different facets of the emotional human. humanity is unpredictable yet understandable. it is irrational but logical. it is full of inconsistencies and contradictions. that is life as a human being. we shouldn't ignore one part of our emotional life in favor of another. we need all of it to help us on our journey.

why do we try to avoid sadness and anger and confusion? there is a reason for why we would respond to the stimulus of the world in that way. our basic human instincts are telling us that something needs to change. maybe we need to change, whatever 'change' means in that situation. these negative emotions signal us to tell us that we need to fix something to regain balance. besides, we can not understand what it means to be 'happy' without knowing these negative emotions.

what if that's all we experience? that we fall into a pit of despair so large that we can no longer see the way out? where our only comfort is the sadness and anger that we carried in with us. what will become of us then? it may seem like we are all alone, but if we only look over the edge, outside our pit, we could see that there are many other people in their own pits trying to get out as well. yet, knowing this does not push us out into the world. we are still stuck. we all need someone to take the time to extend a hand into our pit of despair. she risks falling in herself but she takes the risk because she knows that she may pull someone out into the light.  and that small hope is all she needs to put her hand in, yearning for it to be grabbed. it is the same small hope that the person in the pit has when she extends her hand upward.

humans are not isolated creatures. we are social. we need community. we depend on each other for so much of our existence. we can not hide away in our houses wishing to have life when we are only watching it pass us by. we have to dive head first into the world and take whatever we get, whether that may be something good or something bad. it's the gamble we take. life is full of the choices we make and the risks that we take. if we don't do anything then we have nothing.