Simply Human

      I find myself occasionally touched by the humanity of...well, of humans. That all of us can be touched by the same story, the same circumstance, regardless of social status, age, or race. Our very humanity reaches out to one another, a solidarity in knowing that we share a common feeling or belief. A common emotion.

     Today I saw The Book Thief at the local cinema. It is a heart-wrenching story about a young girl in the middle of World War 2 and the losses she overcomes, the humanity she manages to keep in a world that seems void of it. It has its sad moments of course, expected in a film about a world at war; but it isn't until the end that we find our feelings billowing up our throats to burst out our eyes. The very end climaxes into grief and then relief, when all the built up sadness can take it no more. It was then that I was struck by what everyone in that crowded theater shared. As I held back the tears tearing at my throat, and I wiped an escaped tear with my sleeve, I heard a quiet sob coming from somewhere across the room. I then noticed various sniffles dotted about and even more quiet sobs. Here we were, strangers, coming from different walks of life, male, female, old, young, single, married, black, white, gay, and straight, and yet we were one, united in a common emotion. All touched. All equal. All human. Here we were, watching a movie about the Second World War, the very war that went against all beliefs of equality, led by a man who believed in one master race that was worth more than all others, one people with one belief, one walk of life. And here we were, all different, all equal, all crying in our own way, watching the Americans finally occupy Germany, winning the war, while we too, in our own unity, won. We won that war, in more ways than one. Every day, we show this world, we show each other, that no matter what differences we have, we still have one thing in common, one thing to bring us together. We are all, simply human. So what is there to hate?