The Path to Rehumanization

“The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers.” ~Deepak Chopra

On Monday morning I awoke to the news of the deadly violence that rocked Las Vegas overnight. My heart immediately grew heavy with sadness.

While I was shocked by the scale of the massacre, I was not surprised as the all too familiar storyline played out. All the age-old debates got stirred up again—guns, how we define terrorism, mental health, and security at large public events.

And then there are the victims. The people who often get overlooked as we argue over who’s on the wrong side of the gun debate. We’ve become so polarized that we mostly see these events through the lens of political partisanship rather than the human tragedies that they are.

As we continue our debates, hundreds, if not thousands, are quietly saying goodbye to their loved ones, wondering how they will carry on. I can only imagine that, with still no clear motive identified, the pain of the loss must be even more acute.

Burning with rage

Why? Why did he do it? What made him mow down human beings like they were nothing? Why was he willing to destroy himself in the process?

Underneath our collective calm exteriors, there’s a burning rage deep within so many of us. It feels to me like we’re wrestling with a collective sense of self-hatred. A self-hatred so powerful that it destroys everything in its path.

Why do we hate ourselves so much?

Something has gone terribly wrong within our collective human psyche. How is it possible that we can hurl the most hateful vitriol at each other online but can hardly work up the courage to confront an issue with the “other” face to face? How is it possible that someone can seem relatively normal on the surface, yet carry around such intense rage and hatred? How is it possible that we can simply shrug our shoulders and carry on as normal after events like Las Vegas or Newtown?

What it means to be human

Obviously there are no good answers to any of these questions. But if I were forced to give an answer, I would say that underlying our anger and rage is the fact that we have forgotten who we are at our core.

We have forgotten that we are human beings, built for connection, cooperation and togetherness.

We no longer see each other as interconnected beings, but as external threats. When we push each other apart, we dehumanize each other. We dehumanize ourselves. While other animals are stronger, faster, and equipped with senses many times more powerful than ours, it is our interconnected and cooperation that makes us the most successful species on the planet. As a species, we’re literally giving up our superpower.

We’ve gotten to a point now that, without even knowing it, we’re destroying ourselves. We think we’re destroying other people when we attack them but we’re actually on a path of self-destruction.

The path to rehumanization

How do we move from a culture of self-destruction to one that celebrates and values life? How do we move from painful isolation to life-giving togetherness? How do we save ourselves and others from senseless violence?

Our only hope is to come together. And I don’t mean in Facebook groups or online forums. We must start by inhabiting the same space and learning to be with each other. We need city dwellers to spend time in rural places and rural people to spend time in cities. We need to immerse ourselves in each other’s culture. We need to reestablish relationships with relatives on the opposite side of the political spectrum.

Our collective isolation isn’t just making us lonely, it’s killing us. We must be willing to fight back because there’s too much at stake. We need to rehumanize each other and it starts by drawing closer together.

Don’t believe the voices that say this is just wishful thinking or that the problem is too big. Simply start reaching out right where you are. Say hello to people. Smile. Invite your neighbor over for dinner.

It’s true that we won’t completely eradicate acts of violence, but these small acts of connection will rehumanize us and will ultimately save us.