When we humanise others we humanise ourselves. *
The moment we connect to a human, heart to heart, give someone a name, a history, a story – no matter from where, or what – the bridge that is created reflects our own humanity.
Cruelty more often occurs when we sever this bridge. When we see people as the ‘other.’ When we refuse to hear their stories. To know that but for a small set of circumstances, we could be them. To deny the luck of our birthplace, our education.
Sometimes the weight of knowing that by connecting to one human we open the floodgates of our own compassion, we might choose to keep the bridge severed, the gates closed. Easier to be hardened. To stay distant. To pretend righteousness and superiority, all the while knowing, somewhere deep inside that our superiority hides the same fragility we refuse to see in another.
Our lives have a strange way of cracking us open, no matter our privilege. Through misfortune, illness, loss, we might find ourselves begging for compassion. For the dignity of being seen as human.
Our times call for humanity to dignify humanity. To see ourselves reflected in those who have been discarded and made superfluous.
*These were the words spoken by one of the three men interviewed by Tim Ferriss in his podcast #323, recorded inside a maximum security prison. One of my favourite episodes of the Tim Ferriss show.
June 26th 2018
Photo Taken June 26th 2018