"The more one judges, the less one loves."
Human nature. I used to think it was simple. Straightforward. But as you mature in life, you realize that it is far from the truth. Maybe it’s because I started seeing people through the lens of my own life. Realizing how imperfect I was as a human being made me understand that human nature can't be simple. Or straightforward, because we’re not simple ourselves. I thought that I would have the time of my life writing about what I like and dislike in human nature as prompted by @Galenkp, but it’s proving a bit of a challenge so I’ll just see where I can go with this.
There are many things I Dislike about human nature but I’ll talk about this one because I got to see it in action recently and saying it grated on my nerves would be an understatement. I don’t know if there’s an actual name for it but it’s basically that attribute of humans where we project our insecurities on other people.
It took me a while but I came to understand that most of the things we claim to hate in other people and speak so vehemently about are out of fear. Because subconsciously, we see our tendencies to be like this. We know that deep down this is something we might like or it could be appealing to us in a way and that scares us so the next point of call is to get all judgey about those attributes and get all condescending towards people we perceive portray this attribute that we fear.
I had this friend and he always complained bitterly about my love for a particular boy band. He said they looked like girls and acted too feminine. Made a whole lot of noise about how guys should look like guys and it was amusing to me at that time because his reason for hatred didn’t make sense. They didn’t make themselves. If they had pale skin and doll eyes, it’s because that’s how they were born but he kept being bitter and threatened to end our friendship if I got too invested in them.
Long story short, my phone’s battery died one day, a couple of months later and so I asked to use his since I had an urgent research paper to work on. He was playing games on his PC so waved me off to use his. And you know that if you watch some type of YouTube video, you’d be getting notifications about it. And I was surprised to see videos of not just that boy band but others he’d condemned. His downloads were filled with them.
And I confronted him about it, asking why he’d have the videos of he claimed to hate them so badly. It was an awkward conversation at best, but it made me feel bad. There literally was nothing wrong with them or appreciating their music. I know it may seem mundane but this is just something I dislike about human nature. Insecurity projection. Be yourself. Like what you like. And what you don't like, shut up about it. Stop trying to force others to see it your way. (Yeah, that’s the word for it. Lol)
Moving on to what I Like about human nature which may seem cheesy or clichè is our ability to Love. I’m constantly filled with wonder and admiration seeing the things people do for those they love. Now, I know the world has gotten this four-letter word seriously misconstrued and I’m not about to talk about it but my point is how beautiful it is seeing the level of care and sacrifice and devotion people show towards those they love.
It kind of sweetens how sour life is. Seeing that no matter how villainous a person can be and no matter how imperfect we see ourselves, there is just someone or certain people that we know we would do anything and everything within our power for. That as infallible as we are, love could make us do things we’d never have imagined possible. It makes the prospect of life as a whole just seem better.
Anyways, this is my take on human nature and what attributes I like and dislike. Feel free to give your opinions in the comments. Criticisms, disagreements and compliments alike.
Image is mine.
