I’m only human.
What a defeatist cop-out. What a vicious and villainous way to make excuses. By blaming your misgivings and frustrations on the very thing that makes life beautiful.
Our humanity.
Look. I get it.
I get the frustration.
I get the disappointments. Failures. Mistakes. Accusations. The self-loathing. The self-questioning. The gut wrenching flashes that question whether its ever worth starting all over again.
But to say I’m only human, is to admit defeat by no longer wrestling with your humanity.
Just like Jacob who wrestled the Angel, we are meant to wrestle with our humanity. To push and pull at our stubborn nature and create something that has never been seen, felt, or heard.
That is our mandate and our mission.
To be human. Fully human, fully alive.
You are not the sum total of your mistakes.
Your human dignity and creativity gives you the opportunity to climb out of your ashes, as many times as you are willing to rise.
You are human.
Take great consolation in the fact that your humanity stands on the shoulders of some pretty cool giants.
You don’t have to know anything about nuclear fusion or the electrical currents, in order to create light. You just have to be willing to flick the switch.
You don’t have to pick cotton, or personally manufacture polyester. You don’t have to know how the zipper works. You don’t have to create new stitching techniques. You don’t have to make any dye that colours your thread. You don’t have to forge your own needle. You don’t have to make your own pencils, or grind a tree to a pulp, to create paper. You just have to be yourself, be human, and imagine a piece of fabric that will stun the eye with its beauty.
You don’t have to be exceptional or even gifted to make a difference. You just have to identify a need, fill it, and show the rest of us that there is another way to do something.
Forget the world.
Forget trying to please everyone and don’t live your life by their applause.
Why don’t you try it for us?
Why don’t you try being human for us?
Just us. Forget them.
You’re not only human. You are human.
Warts and all.
Colossal fuckups and everything.
How about we grow a little this year, and stop making excuses for ourselves, as to why we can’t be or can’t do, what we want to be and do.
The list of excuses and scientific evidence you have marshalled against yourself is simply enormous. You’re only human, and only a fool wrestles with Angels.
But there is a crack in your supposed scientific method.
You never put yourself or your knowledge to the test.
You give up before you start. You talk yourself out of it, before you even begin.
Or you quit before you get to the end.
You let the gaze and noise of those who don’t know you dictate how you’re going to conduct your business.
You lie to yourself that you’re only human.
So, have the courage to be human.
Don’t be afraid to fail.
Hold tight to your dreams and follow them.
Follow them through thick untrodden paths. Follow them through thickets full of poison ivy, if necessary. Run after them. Chase them. Run through the night. Fall and stumble through the day.
Don’t stop until you catch them.
Above all else.
Be human.
Be great.
Be you.
