The Human Condition

Complements of the LA Times

"The human condition." Lets all raise our hands if we've heard this phrase before. I have and I know some of my readers out there have as well. No...its not looking at humans or their bones (as the picture above may lead one to believe) and determining their condition. The human condition examines what it is to be human in today's world. It strips away class, race, and what ever other labels or markers we give to one another, leaving only one behind...human. It invokes deep thought and study on issues such as the meaning of life, the constant need to seek happiness and pleasure, and death. (And no...if you came here for the answer to that pesky meaning of life question, I don't have one for you. I believe everyone has their own meaning that they must find. No two are exactly alike.)

So where am I going with this? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. Fun huh? This is just something I found myself thinking about today as I made my way through my normal routine (since apparently, my brain has nothing better to do.) I do not study the human condition. I will leave the brilliance of that field to people who actually go to school for it. However, I do think about it from time to time. My main tract of thought this morning revolved around one single topic that spans all humans, no matter their point of origin, their "racial" classification (quote marks because, as a disclaimer, I don't believe in the concept of race...its a social construct...but that's a soapbox rant for another post), and/or their economic status. That topic is survival.

As we have gone from one time to another, one generation to another, the survival needs of humans change. There was a time when all humans had to think about was how to safely cross the open grass plains of Africa without becoming some hungry lions meal, so they could get to the food, water or shelter on the other side. The survival instincts we first developed standing at the edge of those forests looking out over the grass are still with us today. But how do we use them?

Each culture, each society, each person, uses their need to survive in different ways. For some survival is wealth, for others its the simple life. Some people need world class food cooked by world class food stars others can pluck a carrot from the ground and eat it, dirt and all. In some locations survival can mean making it a block from your house to school without being shot in a drive by, in others its making sure you have your bear spray on you at all times. We each adapt to our situations, to our environments. These adaptations are not set. They change as we change, they adjust as we move along earths mighty surface. We adapt, as we have for hundreds of thousands of years.

As I struggle with my own sense of survival, my own sense of being a human amongst 7 billion others, I can't help but think about what it means to survive in our world today. Is it harder being alive today then a thousand years ago, or easier? Are we getting smarter or dumber? (I had at least one professor in college who swore humans had reached peak intelligence several generations ago.) Is our sense of survival and our need to continue our lives and the lives of our children as strong today as it was when we first walked upright? I can't answer these questions, which in and of it's self is frustrating. I'm an answers kinda gal, so nothing ticks me off more than when my brain comes up with a new impossible to answer question. I do know however that no matter what my situation may be, there are others who are far, far less fortunate than I, who struggle to survive in ways I could never begin to imagine. We must remind ourselves that even though we are all individuals and each of our lives will take a different path, for better or for worse, we must live on this planet together, as one people, one species. We will never overcome our cultural differences but we can exercise tolerance towards each other without the world coming to an end.