I’ve always wondered, is there a basic standard of ethics for us humans? If the word humane means compassion, kindness, civility and sympathetic. Then why are we not those things. Everything around us, everything humans do, contradicts the meaning of humane.

Obviously, the word ‘humane’ comes from human which would be us. But do we represent it at all? 

Due to the war in Yemen, 18.4 million people are in danger of starving to Death  by the end of 2019. Children are suffering and worrying about food when they should be worrying about who they will be playing with. Instead of listening to music, they are listening to bombings and their homes being tore down. “We are surrounded by strikes from the air, sea and land.” A nurse at the barely functioning hospital said. More than 70 thousand people died in this war, including women and children. And we call ourselves compassionate.

Same thing goes to Syria. More than 400 thousand have died due to this conflict and not to mention over 6 million seeking refugee. People getting tortured in horrible ways, children suffering from traumas and witnessing horrifying events. And we call ourselves kind. Are we the real monsters?

Every single day, Israel demolishes hundreds of houses in Jerusalem and all over Palestine. They throw poisonous gases at unarmed people praying in peace. Arresting innocent ones for nothing. Torturing Palestinians in brutality. Most of the children in Palestine suffer from depression due to the horrific living conditions. And we call ourselves civilized.

I sometimes think that the wild is safer for some to live in than this civilization but then if we do , we would probably abuse animals and make them suffer in ways that can’t be described. I’m not the only one who sees footages of humans torturing animals in cold blood. Yes, mankind has made it this far. And we call ourselves sympathetic. 

Sadly, I always have this problem where I really can’t imagine that someone who eats, drinks and thinks like me would do these terrible things to someone else. But unfortunately, humans are inhumane.

I’m not writing this to prove that we have no way in changing any of that. But the first step into solving a problem is actually admitting that there IS a problem.

Do we still have time to actually put meaning into the word ‘humane’? Do we still have time to be so? Can we actually fix this or will we have already ended because of the global warming issue that we have also created?

We need to set our priorities straight, and not keep spending money on an old burnt building while others suffer from hunger. Did you know that the amount of money the United Nations donated to the Notre Dame was enough to solve the hunger crisis in the whole world? I think we can agree that we have a lot to change.  

And we could start by doing what Amal Kassir, the Syrian activist says “Open your ears and listen to the stories around you.”