List #1: On being human

As noted in a previous entry, my son gave me a wonderful list book, titled List Your Self. This entry will be the first of hopefully many related list ideas given in that book. Here is the first one:

List all the qualities you love about being human.

Wow, talk about a big subject. Nope, we couldn't start with something simple, like, list your favorite foods, or, list three people that you could live happily without ever seeing again. I promise, this really IS the first list idea given in the book, though I should add that the list suggestions in the book do not have to be done in any order. But, I'm sure I'll address this particular list question at some point, and I do like having order in my life, so why put off the inevitable ...

First, a quality I admire in others and am working to constantly develop is the ability to laugh, to have a sense of humor. And I'm sure you can see how valuable this quality can be in our mortal journey.


But without going into all the gory details, I've actually been thinking a lot lately about being human. Specifically,what does it mean to be human in terms of our day to day interactions with others? I think it's easy to see our limitations in being human. I mean, besides the obvious, like we can't fly, there are other qualities about being human that seem rather unnecessary -- like the fact that because we are human, we eat too much. Or we are sometimes lazy. Or we hurt people's feelings. Or they hurt ours ... (This list could go on and on ... but I think you get the idea.)

Sadly, and as my family will readily attest, I am all TOO human! I recently had the occasion to apologize to someone close to me. (Okay, this is sometimes a daily occurence for me, but I digress.) I should say I had the opportunity to apologize, because I believe the thing that may frustrate me the most about being human is also the quality that allows for what I love best about being human. We all make mistakes; this is a given. But along with each mistake we make along the way, we are also given the opportunity to apologize for our mistakes. We can express sorrow, and then we can try to do better -- WE CAN CHANGE -- a very comforting aspect of being human. We can learn and grow, and not just in the way that rats in a maze learn the most direct pathway to the cheese.

Still, we all know the famous saying, "To err is human, to forgive is divine." It's food for thought that closely linked to an inevitable part of being human is such a divine attribute, that of being forgiving. I don't think this symbiotic link is an accident of the human condition. When someone near me makes a mistake -- because they are human -- then I can choose to extend forgiveness, even without an apology in place, and the healing balm is put in place which allows relationships to flourish. Through forgiveness, both individuals and relationships move forward, freed from the pain of past mistakes. It allows all of us to access our great, divine gifts and become the most complete and whole persons we can be on our way to being more like our Heavenly Father and his Son. I hate to think that by holding back forgiveness, I have made it more difficult for a person to progress. Like many, I know I have been guilty of this, but I'm working on it.

What would the world be like if we all lived by this principle of extending automatic forgiveness to those around us, for actions both large and small?

But even beyond Christian principles, giving apologies and extending forgiveness is just a nice way to live.