Seeing Others as Humans

Through every time period and every part of the world, humans have persecuted, tortured, and killed one another. Our history books are filled with wars, genocides, slavery, terrorist attacks, and massacres. That does not include the countless stories of crimes against individuals that we may never hear, such as abduction, rape, murder, prostitution, and abuse. These are dehumanizing acts.
In my first class today, I had a guest speaker from an agency that serves male prostitutes. He shared horrifying stories of childhood sexual abuse, homelessness, oppression and persecution experienced by these men. Then in my second class the lecture was on slavery and segregation against African Americans. Later I read a news story that was very tragic. A security video in China showed a car that run over a toddler, slowed down, and then ran over her once again with the back tire. The next car ran over her as well, hitting the already severely injured child. Both vehicles hit and ran. Over a dozen people walked or drove past, leaving the little two year old girl bleeding in the middle of a busy street. Someone finally picked her up and took her to a hospital where she died after being in critical condition and under intensive care for a week. I cannot fathom how such heinous acts can happen. I realized that victims in these incidents were dehumanized. The people hurting them momentarily seemed to forget they were humans. Powerful groups will often treat people of different races, ethnicities or religions as second class citizens.
Cain felt intense jealousy that drove him to murder his brother (Genesis 4). Humans have let themselves be taken over by their emotions since the beginning of time. People in positions of authority have a temptation to abuse and oppress people who are under them. Just as the rich want to oppress the poor and the strong want to oppress the weak. People get caught up in their everyday lives and do not take the time to help someone in need. Maybe if we remembered that we are all humans and loved our neighbors; the world would be a better place.
I heard a priest say that world peace must start on a personal and individual level. If you want the world to be a better place, you need to work towards it in your everyday life. This goes beyond do not steal or murder. If someone cuts you off in traffic, try to be patient. Rather honking and cursing to yourself, let it go and remember that person may be having a bad day. When you have a conflict, try to see the other person’s perspective in the situation. If someone is in need, push aside your own agenda for a moment and see what you can do to help.
I see that the world has gradually gotten better and I know we will continue to. Just a hundred and fifty years ago, slavery was legal in this country. Forty years ago African Americans were free but were still segregated. But today, we have an African American president. Although there will always be evil in the world and humans will always have temptation to sin, we will keep on improving.