Being Human

It's good to be human, fallible, real, honest, integral, the whole picture.
It's painful to open up that way.

I'm taking a Spanish Linguistics class right now, a class that I really enjoy.  Our professor was talking about the words inhumar and exhumar.  They are verbs that pretty much mean bury in earth and uncover/take out of the earth.  He mentioned that the root word is the same for the word human, meaning that the word that we use to describe our species is something along the lines of: made out of dirt, or earth, or dust. His point is that as humans we should learn some humility.  We are only made from the dirt we walk on. My professor likes to remind us that while we are great because we go to B!Y!U!, we are still just Human Beings and significantly less spectacular that we think.

Anyway, I've been thinking about that, and I think it is good to see ourselves and other people as we really are: humble humans. Fancy creations...of dust, not porcelain.

Life is beautiful, and hopefully we focus on the beauty and the blessings we find. It's exciting to discover beauty and excellence. When I see a beautiful sunset or I accomplish something, I want others to know too. I enjoy sharing my happiness with the people I am close to. Really, relationships usually begin when people share positive experiences.  It's more fun to experience happiness as a team, and that's good. We should focus on the moments that are good, complete, or even miraculous.

However, we must also acknowledge the moments when we feel lost or forgotten. Even though it is difficult to share our weaknesses and pains, hiding these experiences in darkness, away from the light of reality doesn't make us feel better.  It just makes us feel less. Ultimately, sharing difficulties is what strengthens and deepens any relationship.  A common fear, which is legitimate, is that instead of strengthening a relationship, the strain of reality will ruin it.  It's painful to open up about our mistakes or worries. We display our tender feelings, unshielded and unguarded.  A careless friend can stab us to the heart. It's often easier to feign okay-ness and strength than to display the whole imperfect self-portrait that we've chosen to veil.

But this falseness seems to me to be far from human. By hiding our weaknesses from the people closest to us, we limit their opportunity to comfort and love us.  They are less likely to open themselves up to us, and thus we have less opportunity to comfort them. However, when we do acknowledge the whole of reality, both happy and sad, we create relationships that are significant and lasting. We can better work with and care for each other when we see ourselves as we really are: humans.

The earthy soil may not seem a likely candidate for beauty, but out of earth, flowers grow. And out of honest humanity, we reap relationships of integral love.