Take a Number
I grow fatigued IN THE EXTREME at the assumption, the fallacy of composition, that suggests that just because we are human, and so many of us are "flawed," somehow this is carte blanche to being lousy at everything. My premise, categorically, is Being Human ≠ Being Fucked Up. Or maybe more specifically, Being Human ≠ Being OKAY with Being Fucked Up.
Throughout history, the greatest examples of humanity have been exemplified by those that transcend the common denominator of average, lackadaisical humanity. And it is not merely the names of the Great Minds that fit this bill of goods; it's not just the Galileo's and the Goethe's. It is the Helen Keller's: a blind and deaf girl who learned to "see" and speak. It is the Temple Grandin's and the Oscar Wilde's, people who fearlessly trumped their own perceived "lesser than" status to be greater than expectation. It is the C.B. "Sully" Sullenberger's, who think and respond instead of blindly react. They have become greater than the sum of their parts -- THAT is what being human is.
What makes us human is our ability to transcend. It's not merely evolution, the ability to "evolve"; no, any non-sentient earthworm can do that. We are human because we are unwilling to settle for the status quo; we express a deep-seated urge to push, to discover, to grow, to surpass. It is so pervasive in our schema that it reveals itself in our recreational pastimes: the competitive sports we play and watch, the literature we consume and adore, the fascination with scientific discovery ("we know more than we did"), the ever-expanding ability to Make Something out of Nothing: a car, a radio, a LHC ("Large Hadron Collider"). Anyone who reveres Hawking or Einstein, who reads, who enjoys art or music, who wonders about Why We Are Here or explores the boundaries of What We Know, be it at the quantum mechanics level or the personal level -- those people are Humans, expressing what it means to be human. The alternative -- cloistered away in a cave, hiding from life and from knowledge -- is not being human. It is being afraid. I concede that fear IS part of the human condition, but the genetic and naturally selected urge to FACE FEAR has earned this species the right to continue in existence. It makes us more compelling that the bonobos or the hermit crabs. It is purportedly why we fancy ourselves at the top of the food chain.
One of the reasons I avoid therapy of late is not wanting to have my own commonness thrown back in my face. Yes, yes, I realize in advance we all suffer mommy/daddy injuries. We all feel betrayed by god, betrayed by some sense of security that we trusted in but it failed. Yadda yadda yadda. Just because "being in need of therapy" is a common condition for most humans, that is not sufficient evidence to presuppose that being in need of therapy is somehow endemic to the Human Condition. It is endemic, perhaps, to the condition of being a sad human. But it is not intrinsic to humanity.
Someone I know told me today that "everyone takes drugs" to cope with reality. BULLSHIT. It's a crutch, whether it's prescription-authentic or off the radar self-medication. In high hypocritical human style, I do a variation of my own "coping" with drinking alcohol. I'm writing this now, heavily under the influence of said "drug" of choice. But in spite of that, I am still attempting to be more than I currently am. That is why I write this tonight. I fight -- FIGHT -- to be more than the sum of my less-than-stellar parts. It is part of how I celebrate my own humanity, even when it might only be seen as self-centered, cathartic venting. Unless one has a specific handicap that requires a lifetime of drug prescription, I do not see how it is logically possible to argue that "taking drugs to cope" is somehow an acceptable response to living life.
In the words of Rise Against, a band with lyricism that expresses this expertly: "Life for you has been less than kind, so take a number, stand in line. We've all been sorry; we've all been hurt. But how we survive is what makes us who we are."
We are HUMAN. Survive. And quit making excuses while you are at it.