To describe what it means to be
human is hard because it’s different for all seven billion of us. Culture,
family, friends, and experience are just a few things influencing us to make us
the individuals we are. Being human
means loving and feeling. Emotions set us apart more than anything else. All
humans experience similar feelings towards everything, major or minor. Other
creatures experience feelings for survival. A dog is happy to see you because
you’re its pack. A friend or family member is happy to see you, not because
they benefit physically but emotionally. Emotions drive us to excel above,
blend, stand out, conquer or help the humans around us.
Men and
women had very concrete roles in society up until very recently. Previously men
were supporters. They went out and hunted or worked. They were expected to be
strong, have deep voices and body hair. Women stayed home, produced and cared
for babies, and cooked and cleaned. They were expected to be quiet, sweet, delicate,
and beautiful. Recently though society has become more excepting of peoples
gender neutrality. Men can freely explore and express their feminine side and
women their masculine side. These stereotypes and expectations surrounding
gender didn’t come from nowhere though. Many women love children and choose to
stay home and care for them. They also naturally prefer a neat environment and
therefore clean. Men are welcome to share these feelings too, it just doesn’t happen
very often. That’s why in the future, asking what it means to be a man or woman
might be a little bit more equal but we will always have our differences.
Being an
artist means creating an original work. It can express some emotion that cannot
be said or simply be done for pleasure. Art is produced for whatever reason the
producer deems fit. They could just be bored out of their minds and decide to
paint their bed. That’s art. Usually though, art is used to portray a message
that can’t be spoken; for people to interpret and think about throughout time.*
Humans are
curious creatures, it’s in our nature to wonder about and question our planet.
If anything robbed us of our humanity, it would be our technological advancements.
Detaching ourselves from electronics would remind us that there is a world
beyond our screen and remind us of activities humans did for thousands of years
before they had laptops and iphones. Putting ourselves back in touch with the
world and people around us would regain humanity.
*Fun Fact: A new Van Gogh painting was discovered called
Sunset at Montemajour recently. The first major work of his found since 1928.
Beyoncé (liking the name, by the way)-- first and foremost, I like the way you described being human. When I was trying to define what being human was, I was thinking of all humans as if they were one and trying to decide what they all had in common. It was smart to take into consideration and make it a clear point that all of us are different. I would be careful, though, when talking about gender. While I agree with you for the most part, I do not believe we have arrived in a place as a society where men and women are completely free to do what you described. It feels more like we are stepping in that direction, but we haven't quite gotten there. Also claiming that men don't often share a neat or clean environment does not make a whole lot of sense to me; it seems mostly like an accusation based in no real fact. The description you provided about what an artist is is very nice. "Art is produced for whatever reason the producer deems fit" is my favorite line from this piece, but I was wondering if you took into consideration artists whose job it is to replicate? Many artists are hired by museums to create exact replicas of famous art pieces that have impacted history. So are they not artists because they're not creating their own work? Just some food for thought, because it really is something to think about. The last point you make about technology is very interesting and I definitely agree that our societal advancements have taken us farther from our natural humanity. It kind of prods us to wonder if people in poorer countries are closer to the original humanity than we are coming from a wealthier nation. All in all, I thought this post was very interesting and it was nice to read your perspective. Also, that's really cool about the van Gogh piece (I had to google it and it's very... green)! It's amazing that these pieces have survived so long without the artist being recognized or known. It's also pretty interesting that the piece only gained real notoriety and fame after it was announced that it was a van Gogh painting and not some random person's.
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