Human Kind

Human Kind

By, Jack Profijt 

"When we are dead we are the same. When our flesh has pealed form our bleaching bones, we are the same. When our bones have crumbled into dust and blown away by the howling wind, we are the same. At the instant of our death what made us what we are has vanished with the departure of our soul." by Jack Profijt

I have not written anything substantial in quit some time, so I thought it was high time that I get things started here again. 

I thought I would start by illustrating a point of view that I have, that I am sure may raise some eyebrows, but at the same time illustrate the diversity of this group. I work In a business that affords me the ability to do something that I really enjoy. I admit it, I am an avid people watcher. In a single day it would not be a stretch for me to speak with people from ten to fifteen different countries in an hour. I can speak with guests from France, Belgium and Spain and then switch to Iraq, Israel and Jordan.  

I always find it quit humorous that on some occasions we have even had Israeli soldiers that are on leave standing in the same line as Palestinians. Over the coarse of a day I speak to doctors, lawyers, trash collectors, soldiers, bakers and University Students.  I speak with all faiths and belief structures from Hindus, Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and  the list goes on. I do not profess to be a religious scholar, nor do I not speak any of these languages but I have the good fortune that most visitors speak English. However, even if we don't verbally understand one another, there is still the mutual language of kindness, civility and my will to understand. 

It is in this last piece that we all find some common ground. People tend to fear what they don't understand, and on some occasions people don't even try. In my humble view the biggest obstacle that prevents people from gaining insight and understanding, is fear itself. 

Fear is fuelled by a number of different things or conditions that exist in society, for example; main stream news media, social media and particularly those programs that try to creat credibility by masquerading as a news program. Fear is also fuelled by history and events that have taken place in the past. The suppression and manipulation of historical fact has had significant impact on society. If we stretch our gaze back through history we can show that , the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, The Albigensian Crusade, the creation and implementation of the Malleus Maleficarum, countless religious wars and the planned destruction of Europe's jewish population are as a result of man made ideology. These are all but a few examples of attacks  on knowledge and understanding, as well as attacks on populations that are viewed as dangerous and heretical.

They are attacks on what is perceived to be different and not the norm. We as humans chose to divide ourselves in many different ways. We chose to divide ourselves by religion nationality and ancestry. We join clubs, organizations and gangs. Even where we work and what we do divides us into different social groups and provides us with social status. In many cases we divide ourselves out of fear because of something we don't understand. 

We as humans spend our lives dividing ourselves and identifying with what is different. We do this so often we lose sight of what is the same about ourselves. 

I chose to look at things this way. Strip away as many things as possible that can creat the division and then look at what is left over. Once all of the outer trappings of society are stripped away, many of us may be surprised to find that people are the same the world over. We all want to be happy and live free . We all want to learn, to grow, to love and be loved. We all wish kindness on to our selves and on to others. We all wish to be treated with dignity and respect. We all want our rights to exist   and as living beings to be respected, and we all do not wish that right to be questioned by another.

We are the same, Human kind.