Humans are such strange beings……
Tag Archive for human
A Day to Celebrate Being Human
Seventy years ago today, in 1948, the U.N. adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That’s pretty good–that many countries agreeing on something. With all the burnings and shootings of people in various houses of worship, with all the greed reflected on corporations taking naturally occurring water to bottle or polluting it, all for profit , leaving the local inhabitants to go to war over what’s left, with the inequities in justice systems ensuring that the poor will live in jail and the rich will buy their way out, with human slavery and degradation–what this declaration means should be taken to heart:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights empowers us all.
- Human rights are relevant to all of us, every day.
- Our shared humanity is rooted in these universal values.
- Equality, justice and freedom prevent violence and sustain peace.
- Whenever and wherever humanity’s values are abandoned, we all are at greater risk.
- We need to stand up for our rights and those of others.
Something worth thinking about today and practicing every day.
The Power of Play
These people are just clowning around–or are they? (Thanks to Audria Schmidt for this.)
So, Smile Already!
Today’s Thursday Thought quote reminds us of the power of a smile.
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” — Joseph Addison
Good Fun?
If you don’t laugh, the jokester will shake his head at you and say, “Come on. It’s all in good fun.” Yet. the ethnic joke he’s told makes you cringe. That’s your conscience responding to an attack on the human family. At that moment, you are inwardly aware that someone’s dignity is being attacked. Deep inside we know that such put-downs only feed bad feelings or stereotypes, keeping them alive. They are hurtful rather than healing in our world.
A step toward protecting human dignity is to stop tolerating those insults. There are two rules in doing this: 1) use a response that is natural and comfortable for you, and 2) make your point but don’t humiliate the person you’re speaking to. For example, you might say, “That joke makes you sound prejudiced, and I know that can’t be true.” Or, “My brother-in-law is Irish and he’s not a drunk.” Sometimes people’s attention just needs to be drawn to what they are actually saying.
The Greatness of Humanity
How can humanity be made great? In today’s Thoughtful Thursday quote, Mahatma Gandhi tells us.
“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.”
Zombies vs. Humans: Science Doesn’t Lie
[It’s weird-mood day for me–brain is getting soggy from all the rain I’m not used to here in CA– so I offer you this offbeat information.]
The zombie apocalypse won’t take long.
A new article in a peer-reviewed student journal finds that the zombie hordes would take Earth’s population down to a mere 273 survivors in 100 days.
READ MORE READ MORE READ MORE
Personal: The Human Touch
Thank you for your patience while I took some time off from my blog (as well as from many other things). It has been a hard space in my life, laying to rest my beloved husband of 35+ years. Being without him will continue to be hard.
But the experience reminded me of the importance of the human touch. His fingers grazing mine when he needed something from the bedside table he couldn’t reach. His smile as I rubbed his feet while we talked, with me doing most of the talking. Mutual reassurance at 3 A.M. when I’d hear irregular breathing, lay a hand on his chest, and feel the pattern change to calmness. That little current flowing between us as we held hands for our morning couple-prayers, even after the actual words came only through my lips.
Hugs of children, grand-children, and friends–hugs that brought healing tears and pushed away fears and anticipated loneliness. And all their cheek-kisses, back caresses, adjusting wayward strands of our hair, finger massages, and quiet hand-holding for both of us and for each other.
During times of grave illness and death, loving people are frustrated because they really do want to do something to help. So they say, “If there’s anything at all that I can do….” What I want to say to many of them is that their simple touch brought us both so much comfort and encouragement. To others I’d say that God gave us each a body so we can minister to each other through the grace of a simple human touch.
A Superior Race of Mutants?
When I hear shouts of White superiority I can’t help wondering if it’s because we’re mutants. Humans didn’t start out white. Scientists attribute the lighter skin to a genetic mutation as people migrated northward. It was a small change in the DNA code–just one letter out of the 3.1 billion letters in the human genome. The change didn’t add strength, intelligence, compassion, power, or supremacy. Yet somehow that tiny difference elevates us above all other DNA codes in some people’s minds.
Can someone please explain the logic to me?
Jane Goodall Looks at Humans
You might think that a British anthropologist who studies animal behavior has her mind somewhere else but in the human world. Not true of Jane Goodall, who is also U.N. Messenger of Peace. Her experiences and studies have led her to the conclusion offered in today’s Thursday Thought: