I learnt about being human late. I don't mean that I was a chicken or goat or a furniture in my former life (as if I had one), I just mean that learning to be a human took me some time. No, a long time.
I grew up naive and ignorant about a lot of things, thinking humans are wired the same. At least, we all have legs, arms, a navel (except there's a Kyle XY somewhere I don't know) and many more things in common. So, I felt that's what being human is all about.
Being human to me meant mixing with people of your kind (all humans), relating with them in the same way, and getting a reciprocation of exactly what you dish out, but I lied. However, before I realized that all was a lie, I cried. How?
I've been betrayed by humans so many times, but I think this is something common among humans. The very first heartbreak I got was from a girl that was supposed to be my best friend. She connived with some other humans who apparently didn't like me to hurt me, and how intense was the hurt. I wasn't even angry at the fact that they did what they did, but I was pissed because 'my friend' headed the team of betrayers. However, when I told my dad, he said "that's human for you".
I remember being asked why I wanted to be an animal doctor so much (even though I ended up not becoming one), and I responded with "they don't pretend". Actually, that's true. Humans have the capacity to pretend to love you when they don't. They can pretend to do things because they love it, when they have other motives. It's all part of being human, however, nobody was wired to be like this.
I scolded my friend sometime ago for being a people pleaser. I asked him how he ended up becoming like that, and he said, "he evolved into becoming one". Humans are actually not meant to be pleased, rather, they are meant to just live their life however they want as long as it's legal ways so that human can avoid getting into trouble as much as possible.
One day, I sat to think about how individual human behave the way they do, and I came up with a simple answer. The upbringing, the environment, and the influence of peers on human seem to be the biggest factors that add to their way of life.
Even though as humans, we have many things in common, there are many other things we do not have in common, some of which include temperament, attitude, character, even the fascinating things such as beauty. These differing factors are what make us humans after all.
Humans are a creation that I've struggled to understand for a very long time, but I stopped worrying the day I realised that we all can't be the same. We have different parents, family, friends, and we attended different schools, received different trainings, have different understanding of things, tackle issues differently, live in different environments, and we have different jobs. The differences surrounding our growth contribute largely to the kind of personality we have as humans.
Even though I said I struggled to understand humans, the basic understanding of the fact that we are wired differently, and the influence of the community in shaping the capacity of humans make a huge difference in the different personalities we have as humans has made me less surprised when a fellow human does a thing that I'm not pleased with. Rather, I look forward to the day when the same human will do something amazing and I'll be happy he did. Making mistakes is part of being human and rectifying the mistakes is also the responsibility of the human too.
All images are mine.
This is my entry to #InLeo prompt for June.