What Does Being Human Mean?

Homo sapiens.: the species to which humans belong.  Such a scientific definition, with little representation of the varied abilities of said human:  the ability to think, to reason, to question, to infer, the ability to feel, love with soul-like qualities. This question causes one to ponder, as seen in the YouTube video entitled "What Does It Mean to Be Human?," for when asked, many either paused or stumbled to develop an answer.  I, too, have thought and mentally fought to narrow this answer down to simple words.  Then, I realized I had already answered the question.

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Being human means having a brain and using it to think, to reason, to question, to infer.  Humans, for the most part, want to better themselves.  From the age of five, children, by law, are placed in educational institutions to begin bettering themselves in preparation of living independently while being able to coexist with others of the species.  Within each human lies the innate desire to achieve, even to conquer, goals.  In my forty-five years of active research in the educational field, I have met no person who was not motivated, in some way, to become more than what he or she was at that precise moment.  This desire to achieve is further encouraged by the person's ability to question and to reason. For instance, a child's first question, from my experience, is either "Why?"  or "Why not, mom?"  Another example is Mary Shelley's characters throughout the novel Frankenstein.  Both Victor Frankenstein and the monster question both each other and the circumstances in which they are.  Depth of questioning was also a sign during the rabbincal times of a person's depth of knowledge.  For example, Jesus, at the age of twelve impressed the rabbis of the time with his already increased knowledge by the level of questions he asked of them.  Therefore, our being able to simply answer the question "What does being human mean?" solidifies our human-ness!

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Being human also means being able to empathize, to love with an agape love. According to Dan Pink in his book A Whole New Mind, "Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in some else's position and it intuit what that person is feeling.  It is the ability to stand in another's shoes, to see with their eyes, and to feel with their hearts. It is something we do pretty much spontaneously, an act of instinct rather than the product of deliberation." (pg. 159)  This empathy, it goes beyond sympathy.  Because of empathy, we can see both sides of an issue, building kindness, opening eyes of awareness, developing bonds of understanding.  In response to this empathy, humans experience a love beyond the physical, a love that felt on a deeper, more spiritual level:  the agape level. According to the definition at Wordnik, agape love exists as the "model for humanity," an unconditional love.  This love allows forgiveness when none is deserved.  This love allows compassion when hate is prevalent.  This love allows understanding when ignorance abounds. Think of all the heroes who became exactly that because of the empathy and love they emanated...Susan B. Anthony, Mother Teresa, Gandi, and others.  Thus, these characteristics further separate us from other species.

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Some would say, as in the previously mentioned YouTube video, that the distinguishing characteristic that defines a human as such is the thumb.  While, granted, few other species have thumbs, being human depends much more than the two digits.  Nic Vujicic was born without limbs and probably displays more human characteristics than twenty humans combined.  In this book Life Without Limbs, Nick Vujicic states, "What my family and I could not foresee was that my disability - my "burden" - could also be a blessing, offering me unique opportunities for reaching out to others, empathizing with them. understanding their pain, and offering them comfort." (pg. viii)  In his book, Nick Vujicic also references Helen Keller  who believed that "life is either a daring adventure or nothing."  Thus, we, as humans, have to take risks, risks in the form of questioning, thinking, empathizing, loving.  

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