September 7th, 2020
If you want to hear something hopeful about humanity, I want you to take a little trip with me.
I’m reading a book of lectures from 1902, and in a lecture I read tonight, it was explained to me that it took people a long time to get from “Someone should do something about this” to “Someone should do something about this, and maybe it’s me.”
Why?
Well, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is self-preservation. Human beings are risk-adverse when a situation has nothing to do with their own individual survival.
So why is this hopeful?
Because as we watch massive groups congregate, speak out and peacefully protest for equal rights and justice, we see many who have nothing at stake and no intimate reasons to join the fight. It shows that humans are actually evolving. They’re growing beyond simple survival of self, and are acknowledging that someone should do something about this, and that it definitely is them.
With that same data, we can assess that people who are unsupportive of the peaceful protests and equality are lower on the evolutionary chain of humanity. So it’s not even entirely their fault — and if it’s up to Darwin, we’re moving in the right direction.
When I made this correlation, my mood shifted. Some days it all feels futile, until you realize the fight itself means something.
It’s evolution, baby. And I am here for it.
The Den 