What exactly is a good human?
I suppose we could each offer up an explanation that would differ slightly, perhaps even greatly, from all other definitions. And who’s to say which one is right? So, for what it’s worth, I’ll tell you what I believe: being a good human is about how you show your heart to others, especially when no one else is watching.
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We live in a world where our public faces are not always in alignment with our private actions. The person who posts that Black Lives Matter might well be the same one who, in the midst of road rage, thinks nothing of calling another driver the N-word. The person always outfitted from head to toe with designer items could actually be on the verge of bankruptcy.
We live in a world where the cameras are always on, where others are always watching, whether it’s at a traffic light, in a restaurant, or at the gym. Then, too, social media encourages us to flip the lenses of our personal cameras and focus them on ourselves. We control every aspect of what is ultimately seen—angles, background, lighting, filters, touch ups, airbrushing—and oftentimes the finished product is so doctored that it bears little resemblance to reality.
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But who are we when the cameras are off? When we think no one is watching? How widely do we smile? How kind are we to the strangers we encounter? How loving are we to the people in our lives? What type of messages do we type when our identities are shielded by avatars and invented screen names? It is in those moments that who we truly are shines through.
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Being a good human matters, not only because of how our actions impact others. It matters because of how it connects us to our own souls, how it enriches our lives in a way that is more lasting than any fleeting sense of validation we get from all the “likes.”
Being a good human, I think, is simply walking in the truth of who we say we are, living in integrity.
And, having written all this, here’s what I can tell you for sure: it’s much harder to practice than it is to preach.
There are days—too many, I must admit—when I miss the mark entirely, despite my best efforts…or because of no effort at all.
But the point, I think, is to show up and keep trying since one of the hallmarks of being human, of course, is that we are fallible.
so true