I came across this phrase today and it seemed to encapsulate how the world seems to me of late-HOMO SUM HUMANI A ME NIHIL ALIENUM PUTO. What it means is ” I am a human being, so nothing human is strange to me”. Over time it has come to be used as a motto advocating respect for people and cultures that appear different from your own. Quite the antithesis of the prevailing times, one might say.
Things have been shitty on a global scale for a long time. There are actually shitty things happening. They are in turn giving rise to fear of the said shitty things happening whether it’s a well-founded fear or pure paranoia. And in trying to take preventive action or being ready before the big one strikes, people are screwing up on a truly epic scale.
Call it intolerance. Call it a phobia. Call it ignorance. Call it what you will but labeling it something specific won’t make it any more real than how it already is.
Kindergartners gunned down. People of a particular sexual orientation. People of specific races, genders- everything and everyone is under fire. And while people speaking up against it may lead to a certain amount of ignorance getting dispelled, but for the most part, people stick to their beliefs come what may. And woe betide you if you try to shake it out of them.
So when tomorrow’s newspaper will inevitably bring news of something unjustifiable cruel, morally and ethically reprehensible; I will not gasp, cringe or shudder. Because I am a human being and nothing human is strange to me. Even inhumanity.
Random. Structured. Haphazard. All Me. 