humanity
For better or for worse, relationships reveal the core of the human condition.
How to Savour Time
When I think on the kindness of strangers, I always imagine the little old gent in the supermarket, just off the tram tracks, in Thornbury, Melbourne. It's a simple story - a short story. No grand gestures, or desperate times. No rescue. Our interaction lasted just moments but it has stuck with me for years. His words have become a little mantra of mine in frustrating circumstances. A sentence I didn’t know I needed to hear.
By Joanna Savage Coleman5 years ago in Humans
The Best Deeds
As a kid, I did not know what good deeds would be since kids generally have nothing to give. As I was growing up, I learned that the best deeds would be something that makes you a better person as well as makes others happy. Well, several little deeds make others happy without any cost.
By Sara Kanbar5 years ago in Humans
Twinkies and Tires
When I delivered pizzas I ran into a lot of interesting situations and met a lot of interesting people. I was held at gunpoint twice, broke up a dog fight, and had women cry in my arms. One night, I was delivering to a factory not too far from our store, it was 10:30 and we closed at midnight. I always hated delivering to this factory in general because the door was locked to the break room, and sometimes no one was in there, and then if that was the case the customer would hardly ever answer the phone, so it leaves you, alone in the dark, wondering if you should stay or wait or just go back. Luckily this time the person was waiting outside and had already paid, so all they had to do was sign. I jumped in my car and turned out of the factory, King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard bursting through the speakers. As I made my way down the street all the factories were on, I heard a bursting noise and felt my car lower on one side, I pressed the gas and just went slower, but willed my car to make it to the nearest gas station.
By Emily Boatright5 years ago in Humans
Soul Food
Kindness is as easily nourishing as the sunshine that sinks into a leaf. It penetrates even the roots, which continue to grow and spread. It trickles into every crevice of our soul and ripples into those around us. Each act forms a thousand seeds that are carried in the wind. Each heart touched is the water that begins the cycle again. This story is just one instance of the impact of human compassion. It takes place over the course of a year. And it wasn’t until the end, when a cup of soup was given to a man named Matthew, that I truly understood the impact he had on my family. Not just my family, but all of the families we’ve been able to help through him.
By Sara Dillon5 years ago in Humans
Love Wins
I don’t usually spend much time putting gas in my car. It’s an errand I squeeze in between other things, and often something I leave to the very last minute, much to the dismay of my dad. And since I’m generally rushing through the task, I never pay much attention to it, either.
By Lacey Doddrow5 years ago in Humans
Civility, For Better Or Worse?
Nature is part of who we are. We are entirely a part of nature that has segregated itself from the environment from which it originated. Once we roamed the plains alongside the great herds that gave us sustenance. Then we built villages to better survive our environment. Later towns began to mark the landscape as we learned to farm and domesticate our food. The first true cities were a far cry from the plains where we used to rest our heads, but inherently safer. Or were they? We no longer feared the dangers of the wild as we had before. With housing came the safety of our walls. The reliance on nomadic herds of food animals soon became a thing of the past as our farms grew larger and our food source more "sustainable". Medicine saved us from the illnesses that once annihilated entire tribes. Yet our self confinement to the luxuries we created for ourselves allowed new illnesses to arise within our society. With change came adaptation and technological advancement. Some for the better.. some not.
By Dan Sawyer5 years ago in Humans
A women of color..
I am a women of color. Elegant in her own way. A women of pride. Striving to keep herself alive everyday. A women of strength. Who knows how it feels to be beaten on the inside and strive to overcome those scars. A person who tries to get rid of those scars in embarrassment and shame, only to realize they're here to stay. They're memories of a past she thought she could not overcome. The past that she thought would haunt her for the rest of her life. I am a women of color. One who has been battered, slung; seen tears and death, with the eyes that deceive her everyday. A women of courage. One that has been placed in situations she thought would never be seen through. A women of heart. One who has put others before herself. A women of goals. One who has seen the light, but still, so far from it. A woman of passion. One who has been lost at a young age. A women of forbidden love. One who has found love she could not keep. I am a women of color. Lost but found through a series of trials and tribulations. Broken, sent away, left for. A women who didn't choose the way she lived in a sense of her own. A women of indignity. Filled with shame, and remorse. A women of wonder. Curious mind, open ears to so many items society calls "human". A women of flame. Stepping to achieve what she has seen can be done. A women of history. A woman of people. A women of color. I am a women, who started as a young girl of color.
By Kyani Criss5 years ago in Humans
The Light Prevails
The bus to Marine Drive Station is never empty. I sit in the back of the bus and watch as people get on and people get off at each stop along the way. I take note of the fact that almost everyone is spending their bus ride scrolling on their phone. For those who choose to disconnect for a moment, you can witness some pretty incredible moments of kindness when you pay attention to the little things. By paying attention, we offer ourselves up to play a role in something bigger than ourselves, on some sort of a Universal stage.
By Jesse Bixby5 years ago in Humans
Faith Restored
I wish I could say my story of kind strangers revolves around my imminent survival, but it doesn’t. My sheltered world has allowed me the luxury of never knowing true starvation or homelessness. But at times when my life has felt like it’s spiraling out of control, kind strangers appeared to save me. Even though I would have lived to see another day, when you’re panicked and worried and this one thing just sends you over the edge of sanity into why-does-everything-bad-happen-to-me mode, you don’t always think through the logic of knowing you’re going to be okay.
By Ashley Kemp5 years ago in Humans
An Opportunity Created by a COVID test
I was just coming down with a normal cold, I had thought. The symptoms didn’t seem out of the ordinary, nothing I couldn’t handle- a sore throat, slight congestion in the nasal passageways, some dizziness, and the occasional cough. So what if it was harder for me to get through the day without needing a nap? I wasn’t the only one who needed extra sleep. The winter season had descended upon Israel in earnest, lashing anyone who dared to leave their homes with sharp winds and flooding rains. I thought that I was inured to Israel’s winters by my Chicago upbringing. But after a few days in which my symptoms didn’t improve, I decided it would be best to go to the doctor, just to be sure nothing was seriously wrong.
By Chaya Arbiv5 years ago in Humans
