Humanity of Humanity

            There are times when I look at humanity and find myself amazed at how backwards some people’s views are, and I find myself wondering how anyone can still think that way in this day and age. Then I look back over the timeline of events, and suddenly it seems remarkable that we’ve made as much progress as we have. I would be much happier if the humanity of humanity developed faster, but I can’t deny that things have changed faster than it feels like.

            Keep in mind that the average human lifespan is around 80 years. This means that within 80 years of a major change in societal views, there is someone alive who was brought up with the ideals prior to that time as the norm. Within 160 years, there is someone alive who was raised by or with contact with someone who grew up with the prior ideals being the norm – someone who may or may not agree with them.

            So, let’s look at what was going on 160 years ago. That was around the time slavery was being abolished in most parts of the world. That means that right now there are people alive who were alive at the same time as people who saw slavery as a normal thing – which means some of that culture (if not all of it) was passed on to them. Which is kind of mind-boggling to someone like me, to whom mainstream slavery was events of the distant past. Yet, within the scope of cultural evolution, that’s hardly any time at all – especially when there are people pushing cultural change in both directions at once.

            So, what about 80 years ago? That was World War II, when not only was it acceptable to discriminate against people based on their nationality, it was normal. Not surprising, with slavery so recent in the past. And, today, there are still people who were alive then – and the world is largely controlled by people who were raised by people from that time.

            In between those two time periods, women transitioned from essentially being property to actual human beings. Amazing, I know. Yet, in spite of that change, here we are, still fighting to make the equality of men and woman normal. It seems like an awful long time for things to not have fallen into place by now, but, at the same time, it makes sense that the fight is still going, considering how slowly culture changes and the fact that we’re still dealing with even older issues.

            Now, I’m not saying it’s right. Right is that a human is a human, no matter what they look like, where they came from, or what they believe. I’m definitely not saying we should stop fighting for what’s right. But I think that sometimes we need to step back and congratulate ourselves on how much progress we’ve made in so little time, with the odds stacked against us. Then we can get back to the fight and shape the world into all that it can be.

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If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.