human

We're all human.

Each and every one of us.

We've all been babies, gurgling happily in our parents' arms.

We've all been toddlers, running around our homes at full blast, our imaginations kicking into full gear.

We've all been preteens, staring at the mirror in horror at our pimple ridden faces, wondering what's happening to us.

Most of us have been teenagers, wanting to leave the house and partying but having strict parents, or not having strict parents at all and losing our way to friends and drugs and new experiences.

Some of us have been adults, responsibilities and taxes and finances weighing us down until it got hard to breathe. But at some point, we learned to manage it.

Very few of us have been old, creaky bones and joints and looking fondly at the younger generations playing and living out their childhoods.

Humans are magical. Those people you see in passing and never think about ever again have whole lives and worries and favorite movies and friends. Each phone you see, tightly gripped within fingers, holds our whole lives. Our memories, texts, stories, future plans and dreams. Everything.

We are all the same yet so unique. Different backgrounds, different personalities, different ways of viewing the world. Some of us are good, some of us are bad. And yet, we're all human.

You're reading this, right now. How are you? How was your day? Now, think about your day and multiply it by eight billion. The world and all that it holds was viewed by eight billion different perspectives, whether that be through scent or smell or taste or feel or sound. This world is filtered through eight billion different people, in millions of towns and hundreds of countries.

If you're reading this in a crowded space, think about all the voices you're hearing. All these people had different first words. These voices have yelled and laughed and pleaded and broken and whispered. These voices have been heard by so many people, and you're hearing it right now. Maybe it's the last time you'll ever hear it. Maybe it's the last time anyone will hear it.

How fascinating is all of this? The concept of being human? We all have an impact on the world, whether that be positive or negative. If you're a kid, your words hurt or heal a parent or friend. If you're a boss, your words and actions hurt or help those you work for you. If you're a CEO, your decisions make or break the world.

I always think about war. When those people fight, do they know they're shooting at people who were once babies, who have rolled in grass and made mud cakes and jumped on trampolines. Those little kids were killed by the cruelness of time. I think about that a lot.

We are made by those around us. We are made by our town, our homes. We are made by our friends and random videos on the internet. We are made by music. We are made by art. We are made by time and peace and war and the world.

But whatever we are made of, whatever happens to us, we are all human.