What It Means To Be “Human.”--Danica

Human. Noun. Scientific term: “Homo sapiens.” Definition: “A bipedal primate mammal.”

Human. Adjective. Definition: “A characteristic of people as opposed to deities, animals, or machines, especially in being susceptible to weakness.” Synonym: “Imperfect.”
This is the dictionary definition of the word human. These few words are apparently what it takes to define the lives we live as the “bipedal primate mammals” that we are. But what does it truly mean to be “human”? Is it purely just waiting for each day to turn to night? Or is it something more complex than what a simple dictionary definition can describe?
The definition of a human could possibly never be explained in a simple sentence or even in a 10 page essay. This is simply because humans are individual complex beings. They aren’t a word. They aren’t a definition that you could just search on the internet. They aren’t the labels that they give themselves or the names that they are given by others. But somehow, we can all relate our journeys in one way or another due to what we experience in life, thus making us human.
One of these ways is that being human is also being inevitably imperfect. These flaws that we contain either within ourselves or in our vessels are what contributes to the meaning of being human. It forces ourselves to be critical of who we are. It allows us to find what pieces to keep, and the others that we need to reform to be better people. Each piece is different for everyone and this leads to differences among individuals within the population.
In this world of ours, we are trained to think that differences are evil. That differences could pose a threat to the balance of the world. When in reality, they keep this world intact. If everyone was the same, Earth would be a monochrome picture on an old television. We are a symphony of a disarray of colors. None of us are created perfectly and similarly. We’re all the same, just in different ways. That’s what I believe makes this world so interesting. It’s like reading books of multiple kinds of genres, authors, and times. Each person holds a story. And each story is worth reading. You know what they say, “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
The emotions that we experience also make us human. Unlike many other organisms in the world that we live in, human beings have been fortunately granted the gift of sentience, but that also comes with the great emotional impacts that this provides. Emotions create who we are, such as contributing to the personality of each person in the world. Not only does it affect someone’s entire persona, but other’s lives as well. Being highly sentimental beings, humans are susceptible to experiencing emotions such as trauma, love, anger and so on due to other human beings around them.

Being imperfect, being flawed, being emotional, being loved, sad, hated, praised, unappreciated, feeling hope, serenity, and so on and so forth are all what it means to be human. Experiencing life’s ups and downs and u-turns, is something that although may be painful at times, should be appreciated as it created and influenced every part of who you are.
But maybe you disagree with every word I’ve said so far and that is entirely valid.
Because part of your journey as a “bipedal primate mammal” is to find your very own meaning of what it means to be human.