This post is a copy of the essay I wrote for my website, I felt it was important to post here as well, but if you want to see it in its original context, my website is linked on my profile.
It goes as follows.
Humanitarian Justification: An Asseveration of the Merits of Compassion
or
Why You Should Care
Let me start off by saying I'm aware that the title is a bit pompous. I wanted to choose my words very specifically, to best convey exactly what this essay is about. This is an earnest defense of compassion, a plea to my fellow man. This essay is the summation of my twenty-three years on this Earth, written from the lens of someone raised and proud to be Christian, but applicable to all of humanity, I hope. This essay is only going to be semi-formal, these are my thoughts, and I feel like to make it too academic would be to miss a bit of the point. Therefore, take any stream of consciousness thoughts as exactly that. Take this as a personal plea to each and every one of you.
When you think about humanity, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For a lot of people in the modern era, our negative traits come to mind before anything else. Humans are selfish, greedy, conniving, lying, cheating, stealing creatures. This is all true. But to stop the thought there is wildly disingenuous. Humans are also selfless, caring, thoughtful, honest, giving beings. You can't summarize humanity without taking both of those sides into account.
So why does it feel like humanity as a whole has taken a turn for the worse? It's not laziness. That was the first answer to spring to my mind, and it would be very easy to argue it. It's not maliciousness or cruelty either. I think one of my close friends put it best, "Indifference and Apathy." Humans have been worn down for so long by the condition of the world that we've all grown indifferent and apathetic. What else can we do? It feels impossible to care for anyone else when it's so difficult to keep our own heads above the water. When I tell people that they should be kind, the most frequent responses I get are along the lines of, "Well, you're asking a lot of people," or, "Well, why should I care?" I'm never quite sure how to respond to these types of statements other than to say, "I don't know how to explain to you that you should Want to help your fellow man." It's disheartening to see people around me, especially good Christian people in my community who I know are capable of it, think these things and act this way. Ephisians 4:32 - "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgive each other, just as Christ God forgave you." This is just one example of the Bible calling upon us to love our fellow man. There is so much moral panic and hatred over so many things right now, but in my honest opinion, the indifference and apathy inflicted upon humanity is Satan's greatest triumph.
People are tired. They don't really know How to be kind anymore. It's become acceptable to throw your hands into the air and claim that humanity is just bad now and call it a day. Surrender should Never be the final answer. We as a society have been calling it quits on each other for far too long now. I, personally, am done living in a world where everyone only thinks of themselves. That's the entire reason I'm writing this, to be quite honest. I think if this message reaches even one person and they decide to go out and try to be a kinder person, it's fulfilled its purpose.
So what can we do? What can any one individual person do to change this? This problem seems insurmountable, I know. It's easy for someone to go online and throw around a lot of words and say "Go do good, it's good to do good!" Ultimately, talk gets us nowhere, so where do we start? Start small! Smile at people when you meet eyes. Hold the door open for people. Honestly? Find genuine joy in the small things in life. Find something that you really like, maybe even something that nobody around you likes. I absolutely Love bugs. When I see any type of bug, I'm genuinely so fascinated and delighted by it. Most people around me don't really get it, but I'm done with letting that bother me. When I'm at work and I'm having a bad day, I've started playing a little game with myself that I think could benefit others too. When I talk with customers, I try to find one Genuine compliment to give them. It doesn't have to be big, but it does has to be genuine. My most frequently paid compliment is that I like people's watches. When you start paying attention to them, there are a lot of cool ones out there. I may not get a smile every time, but the ones that I do get make me feel so much better by the end of it that I'll forget about my bad day completely. I've also recently started participating in web revival, an effort to bring the internet back to its roots and encourage free expression on the web again. I've made a silly little website filled with fun little stamps and stickers and buttons, an honest expression of myself out on the web. It's meaningless, in the long scheme of things, but it brings me immense joy. Honestly express yourself, and (this is the harder step) allow the people around you to honestly express themselves without judgement. One of the core tenets of web revival is to approach all interactions through the lens of good faith. Extend understanding to those around you, allow them to make mistakes without fear of immediate ridicule. Show compassion and lend a guiding hand when they stumble rather than immediately assuming that they're coming from a place of maliciousness.
I know a lot of people, assuming they've even read this far and haven't immediately rolled their eyes and clicked away, are currently sitting there thinking, "This is nice and all, but it's never gonna happen. There's no way everyone in the world is just going to wake up and decide to be nice to one another." And you aren't wrong. That will never just magically happen one day. It's a goal to be worked towards. Step one is to realize that saying "that's never gonna happen," is the Reason that it will never happen. You have to be willing to be that first person to step out of line. You have to be willing to be seen as the odd man out for going out of your way to help other people, even if people look at you funny. It gets said a lot, so much it's practically lost all meaning, but kindness really is contagious. You showing care and compassion to the people around you will cause others to want to do the same. It starts with the little things, but if everyone started doing little things for each other, I think a lot of big good would be done. That, to me, is the point of us being here. We're here to help the people around us, and be helped by them in turn, to reach a point where we've made a world we can be proud of.
I'm doing my part to show grace to the people around me. I try my hardest to show understanding to people when they slight me. It's not easy. I won't ever say that it's easy. But we Have to make this effort, for the sake of the people around us and for the sake of Ourselves. Nastiness can feel Amazing, I'm not going to lie to you. The rush of adrenaline you get from proving someone wrong, the satisfaction that you may get from squashing someone's ideals, it's addictive. But it harms you in the process. It feels nice in the moment, but ultimately you'll realize that you feel empty inside, that you suddenly aren't quite as fulfilled as you thought you were. I know because I've been there. I've done and said some terrible things in my life. I understand that vindictive type of vicious joy. It's not worth it. It just takes a little compassion to change that response into something more positive. Turn that insult into constructive criticism. Genuine constructive criticism, not covert snipping. Cool your blood before responding to things in the heat of the moment. Apologize when you mess up and say things you don't mean. Acknowledge your own faults before calling out the faults of others and work to improve the situation from both ends. Compromise when possible, work to reach conclusions that result in amicable outcomes for all parties involved. These are all more difficult requests to make, they certainly take quite a bit more effort than simply throwing someone a compliment, but they Need to be attempted.
Conversely, I think it's important to stress that you should only give what you're capable of giving. For the first portion of my life, before the nastiness and the unchecked mental illness set in, I was convinced that my only purpose in life was to give everyone around me everything I had to give. I burned myself out on it, and I think that contributed to me falling as far as I did. You don't need to make big, grand, sweeping gestures to do good in the world. Small acts of kindness are more than enough. We need to focus on smaller aspects before we can graduate to those kinds of things. Without a strong foundation, a strong, caring community to back you and support you, you won't be able to hold that type of burden up by yourself. Never give away so much that you have none left over. You won't be able to help anyone if you yourself are drained empty. Take the time to show kindness to yourselves in equal amounts. It's worth it.
Ultimately, my hope in you reading this is that you'll walk away from it and be a little happier in your life. Regardless of how you take this essay, I'm going to continue to strive to better myself and the lives of the people around me. I'm done being miserable and watching the people around me ghost through life without truly connecting with one another. The phrase "Be the change you want to see in the world," is corny at this point, but honestly? I'm okay with being corny. I'm okay with being seen as immature or naive, as childish or misguided by the people around me. I'm going to be the truest form of myself I can be. I'm going to express myself in ways that make me smile and make me happy. If it makes one person smile, or feel a little better, or, the Holy Grail in my opinion, feel safer to express themselves in ways that make Them happy, then it's all worth it. I hope you think it's worth it too. From the bottom of my heart, I love each and every one of you. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
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