Being Truly Human
WHAT MAKES MAN TRULY HUMAN? “What makes man truly human? ” This question alone is very difficult to answer. Although I am a human being, being thrown a question like this makes me think otherwise if I am truly human. After given such question, sets of question started popping inside my head. Questions like, “who am I really? ” “Would I be considered as fully human just because I was born in the figure of a human being? ” “How do I become a truly human? ” continue to linger on my mind.
Let me start off by saying that human are the same as animals in terms of biological components. Like animals, we have a certain hunger to desire a certain object, be it achievement or whatsoever, for fulfillment and survival. We humans do rely on our instincts from time to time. However, are we the same as animals? Or are we far more than them? After much self-reflection, I come to the conclusion that we are better than animals. We are far more superior to them. Being human is being free. Free in a sense that no one would dictate me on what to do.
As a human being, I have a mind of my own making myself superior to animals which rely purely on their instincts. I am not born in this world just to please others nor to make others feel inferior. I am capable of thinking, feeling, rationalizing, and making decisions for myself. I use these abilities to create a better me, to achieve a higher value to my life. However, being free also means that there are certain responsibilities that an individual has. I am in control of my life and liable for the consequences of the choices that I am about to make, may it be good or bad.
Even though I said that being free means that I get to do the things that I would want to do, I did not intend to mean that I will be doing things that would harm my fellow neighbor. What I meant to say was that I would do the things that would benefit me and others as well. Living a good quality life is a way of becoming human. Human beings are capable of socializing with others. As the saying goes, no man is an island. One cannot live without the other. Humans need companions or other humans in order to survive.
Humans are capable of loving, and so socializing with others would not be a difficult task. What makes man truly human is his capacity of understanding himself as a free and responsible being. Through these responsibilities, a human is able to understand that he/she lives with more concern towards others. Being and becoming human is a gift from our Almighty Creator. He bestowed upon us the ability to reason out and the so-called “free will”. Thus, becoming human is living a virtuous life, as proposed by Aristotle in his golden mean theory, or simply a balanced life.
