Ten Reasons to Still Believe in Mankind
I'm what people call, navigationally challenged. I don't think they finished gluing the first GPS together before my dad called me and asked which one of us would be buying that for me. He cut me off at the pass with, "and don't give me your 'I've got mapquest!' nonsense." To his credit, I do believe mapquest is run by burn-out pranksters, but I also don't like for my dad to just buy me things. Unfortunately, it cannot be ignored that my ability to get lost has been called 'absolutely amazing' by my friends. One in particular told me I needed a GPS that I could ask questions. The evidence was stacked against me, and I bought a GPS when I was living in San Diego. It helped only a little. My problems with finding my way leads me to a story from last summer.
I was leaving work headed to a wedding in Sacramento, CA, and cursing the mind who thought it was okay to have a wedding on a Friday (workday!) night. By then, I drove a car that had navigation in it, who I'd nicknamed "The Riddler." I'd always found my car's navigation to be harsh, misleading and judgmental, and shock to all, I got lost--very, very lost. I drove for a while with my gas light on, until finally caving in and getting off at an exit to get gas. California is a very interesting place. You can find nearly any, and every thing here, and somehow, I got off at the exit where the fine print should have read "Deep South." Nearly an hour off course, somehow I was in a hotter, more agricultural and impoverished town. I was surrounded by the kind of white people who still use the word "colored" to describe everyone who isn't white; the kind of white people who think those of us who speak Spanish are "talking Mexican" and the kind of white people who frankly, make me nervous.
I learned at the gas station, that in a move not foreign to me, I'd left my wallet at work, and my cell phone was on its last battery line. This, class, is what we call "completely screwed." I, being odd, did not have the good sense to cry or pray, or fret about this. I took a moment to reflect on how very screwed I was, and started to laugh about it. There I am--colored girl, in her Lexus, dressed in semi-formal wear, in a town that would be a great setting for a scene from "To Kill a Mockingbird." I sighed, and looked for change in the trunk. Nonchalantly, I went to the cashier with about a handful of change that I didn't count, and told him that I would like to have however much was in my hand on the pump by my car. He looked at me in that bewildered way that sometimes people look at me, and off I went, fairly certain that I'd make it two more exits with what I'd given him. I'm not sure how I thought that would help. Moments later, a badly sun-burned woman in denim cut-offs, and a fading white tank top approached me.
"Just fill up your tank, honey. All of us in line behind you pitched in."
I was speechless. I hugged her. I managed to thank her, and I just could not believe it. I was just a stranger, I never said a word about the fact that I was essentially stranded and walletless. I wasn't crying. Many were facing the worst economical strain of their lives last year, and a group of strangers that I was worried about even being around came to my aid. I'll never, ever forget that experience. I'll never forget how well it reminded me not to give up on mankind. Everyone has been hurt, deceived, or maybe even betrayed by someone, but there's still so much good left in the world. For all the ways we disagree, and fall very short of core values, there are still those who extend their hand. For all the reasons to lose faith in love, humanity, and the future, there is still good here. What would be the point of any endeavor at all if this was not so? Here are 10 reasons to still believe in mankind:
1. People Still Show Up.
Our lives happen somewhere in the spectrum between maddening grief, and mind-blowing joy. No one's life is at either end of the spectrum all of the time; our lives are a fluctuating range between the two. But when real life goes really right, or really wrong, people show up. When the unspeakable happens in the community, and some, like me, would rather be setting something on fire, we show up with candles, and support. People show up. When it gets good--when people marry, welcome their child, buy their homes, graduate from college, get baptized--people show up. And life is bad sometimes, and can cause you the kind of pain that is so intense it can take on its own life form and share your breakfast, but people still show up. People show the heck up. Still.
2. People Are Still Outraged By Depravity.
The news is on, and it's usually not good. If aliens (the kind from outer space), watched 24 hours of our news, they'd likely never come here. But there is something to be said for the fact that horrible news is still horrible to most of us. Maybe we are actively upset, and spurred to action, maybe we turn our heads, but the idea that human suffering is still not okay to most of us means all is not lost.
3. People Still Believe in God.
We can't seem to come to agreement about God, who He might be, or what He might want. We do group off, worship God in the way we see best, and if we're not careful, mistreat others for not doing the same. There are certainly negative aspects to religion, and I've known many a kind, considerate and reasonable atheist. But Stevie Nicks said it best in a song, "we all believe in people that we think believe in God." I've studied a lot, and I can crack my knuckles and hold my own in a discussion about what it is that I believe. I wouldn't believe it otherwise. I hope everyone can explain their own core beliefs well. But without a laborious discussion about theology, I usually don't have those without a snack first, there's just something magnetic about those with the audacity to believe in the unseen. At the end of the day, none of our contemporaries were around for the origin of man, and nothing can be proven completely without that one elusive piece of the puzzle. There's something to be said for the educated person who takes that one giant loophole in both Intelligent Design thesis, and Evolution thesis and decides to believe. There is still reason to believe in mankind when there exists the person who has reviewed the evidence, knows the opposing view, and decides to call his surroundings a deliberate and intelligent act from someone greater than himself. It's promising.
4. People Are Still Reaching Out to Other People.
There are still people running blindly into burning buildings, stopping at car wrecks to help out, and giving money to homeless strangers. People are still sticking their necks out, and stretching their hands out. And it ain't easy, and some of us who reach out will tell you the tales of how our outstretched hands were returned to our sides with bite marks. Tough world, and oftentimes, the people who need your help the most will put up the hardest fight. People will question your intentions, your motives, your actions, and what it is your help will cost. I'll never forget the patient who ran from our unit, filthy, barefoot, screaming, homeless, and pregnant, all because she wouldn't be helped by strangers. But here's the secret--the people who reach out have already been bitten once or twice before. We're used to it, and if we're still reaching out, it means we can take the occasional hit, because there's another secret here. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes you reach out to someone, they kick, and scream, and swear you're the devil, and then they take your hand. Even if this only ever happens once in our lives, it's worth it to the type of people who go to help. Those who reach out are in it for the sometimes.
5. People Still Love.
Against all odds, people will get hurt in love and get right back in the game. Whether it's family love, romantic love, or brotherly love. Even the fearful, hardened, and bitter still love. Even when people don't want to love anymore, they still do. Even when love means the greatest of risks, people still play their hand. The fact that many still feel their life is only a measurement of who, and how much they loved, gives all of us a reason to still believe in mankind.
6. People Still Make Music.
We should build. We should invest, we should fix and we should grow things. But art matters, and if all we ever did was build, fix, and invest, what would we be doing those things for? Making music, painting canvas, producing films--these things are part of what makes us mankind, and if we keep going, then we are building, investing in, and fixing our souls.
7. People Still Want To Be Around Other People.
Some of us love our space. I am definitely one that could not love solitude more--when I can get it. But I love people. I learn from them, I laugh with them, I grow because of them. I wrote a hub on what I'd learned from joining facebook, and I wish I had included that social networking shows that we really want to know each other. I don't think it's the best way to communicate, but social networking is just people wanting to be heard, wanting to hear more, wanting to connect. Apparently, we want to know what our friends are thinking, doing, eating, and where they're headed. It matters to us. We care about each other enough to stay curious. If we all still want to know each other, and be around each other, than there must be something worthwhile about mankind that makes us want to find our community of support and cultivate it. We all must be worth the effort.
Soldiers at the Western Wall (a holy site for prayer for all denominations) in Israel
8 People Are Still Waiting For The World To Change.
We
know it needs to. I was living and working in Washington D.C. during
part of the election year and Obama Inauguration. It was one of the
most heated political times I have ever seen in this country. For all
the ways people disagreed on how to fix the United States, it was as if
people suddenly woke up. It was as if everyone who had been passively
American were suddenly citizens of their country. People argued, and it
was good, it showed they cared. People came out of hibernation and took
note of their own surroundings, and what they wanted to be different.
People voted. People flocked from deadened states to worship at the
holy church of "Change." People know that things have to change, and
whether they are looking towards the White House or the White Clouds
for that change, it shows that mankind as a whole still believes things
can get better. It means mankind as a whole believes in belief.
9. People Are Still Making More People.
I
hear the statistics on birth rates have gone down, but I'd love to know
from which hospitals this data is being obtained. Certainly not mine.
The labor and delivery unit is as busy as it ever was, as best I can
tell. By the power vested in me, which is none, I would like to
officially declare to all of hubpages, that if childbirth has anything
to do with it, mankind is not an endangered species. And yes, many of
the little ones born in our hospitals are...surprises, but many
children are planned. I'll go further, many children are planned for,
prayed for, and wished for--they are dreams coming true for some
people. And almost no child is born without someone who can't wait to
meet them, planned or not. The love of a parent is heart-wrenching,
devastating and wonderful. We're making more people; we believe we can
do right by them and for them. We still believe in mankind.
10. People Still Slow Dance.
Now I've been known to get my proverbial freak on...am I allowed to say that? And for my cousin, who has lost sleep over the serious concern that too much rock music was going to suck out all my ethnicity, my milkshake still brings all the boys to the yard...am I allowed to say that? But this slow dance--the un-frantic taking of hands, the confidence of a slower pace, the warmth of the feeling that rings truer, (and longer), than the sweat of lust--this is reason to still believe in us. Club dancing is expression, invitation, sometimes it's showing off. Slow dancing is a moment in time--"this is how we met," 'this is my mother's favorite song, and it's her day," "this is our grandparents' 'we stopped countingieth' anniverary, and the music is slow." Life is fast, and when we slow down to dance with the people we love, it's a chance to dance like we mean it.
Do you wanna dance?
Dance Like You Mean it.
- MySpace Player
My parents have been at their marriage for 32 years, strong, happy, and they say 'no regrets.' A little uptempo, but this is their song, their slow dance.