I believe that as human beings we have an inner compass that is constantly pointing us back to our natural essence of being #humane towards each other. This natural essence is part of our grounded-ness in #humaneness. The humaneness is what in isiNguni languages in southern Africa, such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiSwati and isiNdebele, we call #Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is a global #humanconnection phenomenon meaning “I am because we are”. In other words, I cannot be fully or wholly who I can be when I somehow contrive to deny, restrict or constrain your ability or capacity to live a life that allows you to fully live out and express your natural abilities. What if the whole purpose of life was for each one of us to share our natural gifts and abilities that can only be found in no one else but us? Part of our life-mission – then – must be to co-create sacred spaces where we can all be fully who we can be; or be who we were created to be.
We must all help each other to identify, develop, refine and deploy our natural gifts we were born with, during this rather short lifespan here on earth. When I deny you the chance to express your #gifts and natural abilities, whether via colonization, apartheid, indoctrination, my privilege, or some other form of ‘brainwashing’ that limits you (including the one you perpetuate yourself unaided as a result of inherited or embodied superiority/inferiority!), I am denying all of humanity the special gifts that no one else is endowed with but you. This is the bigger – and hardly directly mentioned – tragedy of all kinds of superficial (learned/taught) human differentiation and oppression.
The beauty of Ubuntu is that it reminds us that we are one human species, and are intricately #interconnected. Being humane and living with Ubuntu principles of authentic connection with all humans is not being weak. Admittedly, yes, it may open you up for serious exploitation by those in the human family who are driven by the lower human motivations of greed and selfish self-service, and not the higher values of connection and self-less service to the collective and the greater good.
One of our first humane tasks must be to look out for each other. We know this – the village raising the child and all – and we have for far too long given in to selfish individual or group greed and hoarding that has devastated the environment and whole communities. we have been granted multiple opportunities to review our stance on each other and our shared planet. we continue to ignore the warnings. Now a microbe has sent us all to the naughty corner for months. Are we listening? Are we sable to learn anything from this?
There are multiple #Ubuntu messages everywhere. Selected lessons from #COVID19 and the massive protests triggered by the gruesome murder of #GeorgeFloyd, include the fact that #humanity knows where home is. We are waking up to the direction we need to take to come back #home to Ubuntu and build genuine human connection. In isiZulu culture (Southern Africa), we initiate this genuine human connection straight from our greeting when we meet others.
“When we greet, we reach out and say #Sawubona, which literally means #ISeeYou. I see you with all that you are, all that you represent, and all that you stand for. It is time for us all to ‘see each other as we are’, and NOT as defined, described and boxed by some pseudo-scientist, interest-group, politician or anthropologist”.
Over time, and MORE recently through COVID-19, I have learned that geography is a lie. This may unsettle and possibly upset some of you. but here goes: When we define another human being by their geography, be it current location, birth, or so-called country of origin, we limit and constrain how they prefer to define themselves. And we can inadvertently set off a string of narratives associated with that geography and attach these narratives to them. This sometimes blinds people from seeing others clearly and/or as they would prefer to present and re-present themselves. Examples: “Where are you originally from?”; “I’m am from Brazil”; “Oh, so do you must play some soccer too, or are you catholic!”. Duh! There are numerous examples…
How about next time we try this: Unless it is for purposes of building rapport, business networking, other more meaningful or strategic purposes, and you are short on social skills, try to avoid asking people where they are from and see only a fellow human being. Engage geography only if/when the other person brings it up themselves. This way, we jump one major hoop over human identity and classification. We must start to think outside the box with this human differences thing. Or as if there is NO box in the first place.
And because I am wearing a dark brown skin, you assume that I am from somewhere in Africa, right? well, yes, you’re spot-on! I am, and so are you. Yes, all humanity came from mother Africa. This is why she keep on giving to her every-hungry children (read greedy if you like). Africa is home to all humanity, right? It is, if we believe the archeologists and scientists. Someone messed up the writing of the history somewhere, for whatever reason. Hence the call to come back home in our understanding of who we are: interconnected humane beings. So, what will the re-writing of some sections of corrupted history produce? I cannot wait to read up on it!
Well, well, well. Suddenly, history has become unpredictable.
“Until the lions (animals) have their own story-tellers, the story of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” (African Proverb).
We are all amazing human beings.
The Ubuntu compass quivers and stubbornly points towards us coming back home to genuine authentic human connection. It does not have to take tragic circumstances to wake us up to this. Yet, if we remain asleep, or unwilling to hear the message, there will be more, perhaps even more tragic, incidents.
Let us grab this gift and connect.
Genuinely.
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