Humans Part 2

"Humans are different because they are the only species that can engage in storytelling and abstract thought"

There's a phrase you can't say while looking in a mirror. You'd have to look yourself in the eyes and accept the inherent arrogance the sentiment reeks of.

I'm probably being too harsh. This idea comes from a place that wants only harmony, and peace. When people say this, they mean to be poetic, sure, but more accurately they mean to unite all humans. "We may have different beliefs and different lifestyles, different politics and passions and religions and backgrounds, but we all share the human-exclusive capacity for storytelling. That is what unites us all. So let's love one another".

But what does it say about humans that we must be superior to any other species in order to even consider loving each other? It's not just this context either, war unifies countries internally, angry parents unify typically quarrelsome siblings, and harsh teachers make for good friends in any given class. We find unity only with separation, with an 'other' present, an 'other' party, an 'other' individual, an 'other' species. It's no news that humans often assume communities that don't operate like their own are inferior. It's one of our favorite mistakes to make.

Maybe if/when the presence of life is discovered on other planets, all Earth's species can love each other. I suppose that's what it would take.

Not to mention, it's embarrassingly ignorant to assume non-human species are incapable of storytelling and abstract thought. As it turns out, the Earth isn't the center of the Milky-Way. What a shock that we rotate the sun. We can't imagine anything outside our realm of understanding, anything that doesn't happen how we assume, or that isn't like us. 

Why does there have to be water and oxygen on other planets for life there to exist? Just because our bodies happen to run off H2O and O2 doesn't mean 'aliens' couldn't use other elements. We can't walk in another creature's shoes for our dear lives.

Chill out McKensie, you're being absurd! I mean, for example, giraffes can't go up to each other and discuss the after-life or recount the birth of their children. You're absolutely correct. They can't, in any way that us humans are able to recognize, understand, identify, or even imagine. Just because we need H2O and O2 doesn't mean other-wordly life does. Just because humans use specific gesticulations and certain types of language doesn't mean all Earth-dwellers do. There's so much we don't and can't know. More on that here :)

We think storytelling makes us better than the 'others'. More loving. More wise. But if anything it exposes in harsh light our limitations in love and wisdom.

What's wonderful is that we're working to become a kinder society, in many ways. We're making an effort to adapt our ever-evolving language to be more inclusive. But in our noble efforts to unite ourselves as the human species, we have sometimes further separated ourselves from other animals. Why do we need to be different, better, or superior than someone else to love? There's enough love, we don't need to be so picky. For a species that uses Earth's resources in such quantities, we have a hard time using our love for universal unity.