Binu Jose Philip's Weblog

Being human

I saw Hotel Rwanda and was immediately depressed. I know worse has
happened in history. Right from almost 2800 BC there is record of
human sacrifice. Organized persecution has happened regularly. With
that as the background I thought about my arguments with my sister.
She is vehement in her view that humans are unworthy of being
considered the pinnacle of evolution.  We Humans are not humane.

I argue with her about nature being "inhuman" and killing and fighting
being part of raw nature.  Humans are nothing if not a product of
nature. Everything from stealing to cheating to gangs and wars abound
in nature in many other specees. Humans are only following natural
instincts. Everything that humans do is thus fine.

But after watching this movie I have changed my point of view. If we
humans can't control our actions beyond what nature dictates what use
is self awareness? Being self aware is more than saying "I think
therefore I am.". It also means acknowledging anyone else has the
right to be as different as they want to be, tolerance and mercy.
Mercy being the keyword.

Posted at 07:46AM Feb 05, 2008 by binujp in philosophy and links  |