An open letter to humanity

 To think that I was once hopeful and optimistic about humanity...  

Greetings,

Do you remember when you were younger and everything was filled with bliss and felt so wonderful? I am sure we have all had days like that. For some, these days lasted a long time, while for others, they felt like an instant and then vanished. How do you feel looking back on those times? Do you feel naïve? Do you want to go back to those days? Days when everything felt so simple but complex at the same time.

I recall those days as well. I used to believe that anything was possible when I was younger because I believed the world was good it felt kind. I was born in an environment that shielded me from the bad things in the world (and still does), but no amount of shielding could protect me from its terrors. Slowly, I began to learn and see that bad things happen, and the world began to feel less joyful. The bad began to encroach on my fantasy world, leaving me with only one question: "Is the world bad?"

This is something that all humans must deal with in some way. A realisation we all have. We’ve been trapped in an existence that can be punishing, and we can do nothing about it. We tell each other stories; stories that are supposed to make sense of everything. Stories that attempt to make sense of the good and bad. Stories that help us sleep at night and keep us sane. Call these stories whatever you want—myths, religion, destiny, philosophies—we all have them. They keep us afloat in the world’s sea of absurdity.

When I realised that my world was not what I had imagined, I had no choice but to rely on a story. My Christian faith was the first story I relied on. Having been born and raised in a Christian home, it was the ideal refuge. But as time passed, even my faith failed to make sense of everything. Maybe I did not believe hard enough, or maybe I did not rely on Christianity as much as I should have. I tried to make sense of existence and came across existentialism and absurdism. These stories told me nothing made sense and that reality could be anything we imagined. The freedom that came with this idea gave me a renewed sense of optimism. We have the freedom to be whoever we want.

But now that I've had another epiphany, nothing makes sense anymore. If existence has no explicit purpose and we can be whatever we want as a species, why did we take the shittiest path? If our species' existence has no predetermined path and we are meant to forge our own, why did we forge an ugly path? A path where people kill each other, hate each other and discriminate against one another. Why are we taking this route? My most recent blog post made me realise how naïve I am. I wrote about how similar humans are and how we should have "enhanced empathy" for one another; We are the same machinery, I said. "We are cultured biochemical robots," I wrote. I published my beliefs for all to see, but two months later, even I do not believe anymore in what I wrote.

I am currently reading Angela Saini’s Superior, a book on race science. The book details the story of “science” and its unlikely romance with racism. Some of the topics Saini discusses frighten me. I thought racism was a thing of the past, reserved for delusional men and women, but Saini's book proves otherwise. The idea that someone will look at me and think I am inferior simply because of the colour of my skin disgusts and scares me. I was overly optimistic, expecting humans to see each other similarly in 2023, but nothing has changed. Saini's book has forced me to confront a much larger issue. Humans despise one another. People will notice one small difference in another person and despise them for it. Whether it is a person's skin colour, religion, country of origin, or even sexual orientation. When I wrote my last blog post, I forgot to mention this hatred. I assumed that in our globalised world, we see each other as one and the same, but that is nonsense.

We have chosen a path of hatred and division; a path that values material wealth over the well-being of our fellow brothers and sisters. A path that exacerbates conflict rather than attempting to resolve it. I wrote my previous blog post believing that humankind was intelligent and logical, but when you take away the fancy gadgets, clothes, language, and culture, you realise that we humans are just another animal. We are a result of evolution, and everything else we have are accidents, side quests in the grand scheme of things. Once you remove all of the side quests, you begin to understand why men kill other men and why we divide ourselves; it is all because we evolved in this way and were designed for self-preservation and nothing else.

We have changed; we are no longer the people we once were. Humans have made great strides. People now die of disease at a lower rate, homicides have decreased globally, and countries are no longer fighting wars with one another as casually as they once did. The world is improving, but we as a species are still finding our way. I would agree with this argument, but looking around, everything appears to be in disarray. Because of our desire for excess, the world's climate is changing, we are closer to a nuclear war than ever before, and the gap between people appears to be growing. I can not even scroll through my Instagram feed without being confronted with one of these issues. Maybe we are finding our shit as a species, but how long will we be finding our shit when time is running out as we speak? This is why I am less optimistic about mankind. Maybe I am exaggerating all of this, but I still believe there is a reason to be concerned.

I hope we forge a better path as a people. A path that could look similar to the dreams we once had as children.