Written by Doug – the northlondonhippy

Are you from Earth? Me too! In a universe as vast, and enormous as ours, isn’t it amazing that we both live on the same planet? We’re practically related! What are the chances? A gazillion to one? I’m not sure, I’m not very good with maths.

Do you breathe air? I do too. Eat food, drink liquids? OMG, we are so much alike! Have you ever heard music? It’s great, isn’t it?

Humans. We are a funny little species. I really can’t work us out. Most of us are nice, but some of us aren’t. We all have more in common, than we have differences, but most of the time you wouldn’t know it.

Humans come in all shapes, and sizes too. Some are short, some are tall, some are young, and some are old. And don’t get me started on all the colours we come in! You’ll get fewer choices at a new car dealership, than you will with the shades of humanity. We’re quite diverse, and different for a species that at its core is really all the same. 

And we are all the same, we just pretend we’re different. Humans have different tastes in many different things, and that’s often used to divide us. It shouldn’t. 

All Earth culture is human culture; that means all human culture is your culture if you want it to be. You’re a human. It’s up to you whether you embrace it or not. It’s not appropriation; it is sharing, if you can accept that we are all the same. And we are. Your heart beats the same way mine does. 

Is your god better than my god? Maybe there is no god? Who knows? If you find solace, and hope in your religion, good for you! And if you find your solace by shunning religion, good for you too! We can all believe different things, as long as we believe in each other. 

When the space aliens invade in a science fiction film, they never announce themselves as coming from a country on another planet, just the planet. We accept that any advanced alien race that could visit us, that’s able to traverse vast galactic distances, would come from a unified planet. We don’t question it. Yet, the idea of our planet united, terrifies many. Why?

Our future rests with global cooperation, and not the foolish competition of countries. Borders are man-made, but so is cooperation. If we want our species to continue, we need to sort this out. Every single one of us has just as much right to be here, as anyone else. 

We all deserve pure air to breathe, clean water to drink, a safe, stable food supply, and a warm place to sleep. But for some reason that is beyond my comprehension, many of us don’t have the luxury of such basic amenities. I could throw a bunch of statistics at you, but you don’t need them. You know what I say is true. Maybe you see evidence of it yourself on the cold, mean streets where you live. 

It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, if you don’t have the basics, then you don’t have much of a life. Chances are if you are reading these words, you do have the basics, and maybe even a little more. Good for you! There are many others who aren’t as fortunate as you. Or me. How can we help?

Having compassion for your fellow humans is a good start. Individual humans are sometimes bad, but for the most part, we’re a pretty good species. Kindness goes a long way. And the cool thing about kindness is that it doesn’t cost a penny. Kindness is free, and even if you give it away, you still have more in reserves. It never runs out, if you believe.

Every human struggles. No one likes to admit this, but the fact is that life is hard for all of us. We pretend that it’s not, but it is. It’s not weakness to admit this; honesty projects strength. 

We may not remember it, and that’s probably a blessing, but each of our births was a traumatic experience. Life begins with pain, fear, and trauma, and that’s before you even open your eyes.

From the moment you’re born, you’re expected to navigate a world that doesn’t make sense. And you’re expected to eventually provide for yourself, and find purpose. Many of us struggle with that, some succeed, and others fail. We all do the best we can, but circumstance is often an impediment. 

Luck plays too big a part in existence. And we all just accept it, as if there is no way we could change the system, and make it fairer. The problem is that the people who get the most from the system, are the ones who could change it, and they don’t want to share. We should take that power away from them. There’s a lot more of us, then there are of them. But we don’t. Humans in numbers don’t appreciate their power, or value. 

Time is running out. You might not believe that, but it is true. Our Sun will start to die in 5 billion years. Our entire universe will suffer heat death in 1.7 x 10 to the 106th power years, which is just a meaninglessly huge number. Ultimately time is finite. 

Let’s use some smaller numbers that we can comprehend. Our biosphere could be lost within a decade or so. That got your attention. I wouldn’t want to make a firm prediction, but it will happen sooner than you think. It really is possible that Earth could become inhospitable to all living things within your relatively brief lifespan. That’s not an exaggeration. It might already be too late for us humans. 

Life is finite, existence is too. We need to make the best of whatever time we have left, as individuals, and as a species. We can’t save everyone, but we might be able to save some of us. I’d like to see humans stick around for a good long time. If we get our collective act together, we might be able to continue to exist. There still may be hope. We just need to act fast; a lot faster than we are now. 

Embrace your humanity, embrace other humans too. Don’t believe those who try to deceive you into believing we are different, because we’re not. We all want, and need the same things. We all need to be fed, clothed, and loved. Love thy neighbour. Didn’t some really famous hippy guy say that a couple of thousand years ago? Those words still ring true today. 

Humans. We’re a weird little species. Maybe you can’t work us out either, but it sure is fun trying. 

The End

(All words © Copyright 2023 – Doug – the northlondonhippy. All rights reserved)

Ohh, yes, this train carries saints and sinners

This train carries losers and winners

This train carries whores and gamblers

This train carries lost souls

I said, this train carries broken-hearted

This train, thieves and sweet souls departed

This train carries fools and kings

This train, all aboard

– Lyrics from “Land of Hope and Dreams” by Bruce Springsteen