Humanize Me!
By Saad Manasterli, Staff Writer

Fairfax, Virginia - Who are we as a people and what are we to do with time? For time does not last forever and we are most definitely not everlasting. So in turn I ask myself, what is everlasting and what can withstand the tides of time and its withering ways of evolving?

I sit here and contemplate whether or not I am on the path of righteousness, and if I am, is it really the right one? Doubt is the everlasting disparity that was handed down to us by the almighty creator. Doubt is the one thing that makes us human. Some people feel as if it is actually the brain, the thought process, but even animals have personalities. You might think that I am crazy, but then why aren’t all animals the same? Why do some feel above humans and why do some feel as if they are an integral part of the family?

I then seem to ask myself another question; could it be love that sets us apart from the savage animals? Hmm, I wonder if love really is love or if it is just a few words that we put together to have a title for an unexplained feeling. Maybe it is all just sexual. We all have our sexual instinct, and isn’t that what actually attracts us to the other person, be it of the same sex or not? Claiming that only animals mate in the middle of nowhere without regard to the surroundings, I put it to you like this; if Man didn’t create laws against that particular activity, or if Man didn’t drill the sense of it being taboo into the skulls of the people, then would that make us animals as well?

If we aren’t just basic sexual creatures, then why all of these urges to mate and spread the love? We can express how we feel in words, but it does not relate to how you can express yourself in the physical sense. Ok, don’t we always say, “Actions speak louder than words!” If we follow our own words then mating is just an expression of the man-made word love. And when we tell each other that we love and/or love not, how can we all tell if that is true? I mean even Cher knows the answer to that question, as she quite simply put it, “If you wanna know if he loves you so, it’s in his kiss.”

So by the process of elimination I can conclude that words are merely letters that facilitate a communicative expression between humans, but by talking we hear distinct voices. But the language in this case, let’s say English, is only understood because it has been indoctrinated into society, and the combinations of the letters are known to be recognized as such. So basically every sound has an attached value, just as in mathematics, where we have X and Y; by themselves they mean nothing, but when combined in a certain way we deduce a meaning that was instilled in our society. For example X+Y=love. Isn’t math the universal language anyway?

So I still sit here feeling constricted to these thoughts and ideas and I continuously ask the question again, who are we? But to bring it closer to home, who am I? I pose a question to myself that I haven’t yet had the chance to answer. I’ve searched high and I looked below, I’ve turned mountains and dug holes in an attempt to figure out the puzzle or the riddle called “Me”, but my calls are still left unanswered and it begins to dig into me like an overzealous homicidal maniac. Maybe it’s a curse that I would want to know who I am, but wouldn’t you want to know?

Still no answer.

Have I been granted the title of human because I walk on two feet and have opposable thumbs. Is it because I can understand what the combinations of letters mean? Is it because I do go gallivanting in public trying to mate? Is it because I have a brain that allows me to think for my own? But animals do that too. Am I human because I am free, and I have the ability to make choices? Then again every single being has the ability to make choices. Yet it seems that the animals have more rights than we do, especially in the states where it seems like people have taken an “I have no purpose in life” pill and decided that they should save animals (which I am not against). However, what about the people that actually need help? If you see a poor skinny cat or dog on the street you’d feel sorry for it and you’d most probably say, “Awwwww, you poor thing!”, then maybe you’d pick it up and take it to a vet. On the other hand, you have people dying of famine and diseases and you wouldn’t lift a finger to help them. You tell me what’s wrong with that picture. It costs much more to take your pet to the vet than to take yourself to the doctor. See, that just doesn’t make any sense.

So here I am torn apart by this question. What makes us human? What constitutes the fabric of humanity? Is it because we are humane? Doubtful?! If that was the case then why all the wars and suffering? If taking care of pets makes you human, then I am human four times over; I have four pets.

Still not the answer! Then what is the answer? How can I find the answer to this everlasting question, which echoes itself through space and time? How could it be possible for us to have survived time, and end up where we are today, as a race of humanity? Looking in the mirror I see me, but the reflection is missing an answer to my humanity. Still, the question will always remain to be: Me.

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