The Purpose Of Humans
My wife and I homeschool our three boys using a method called ‘unschooling’ in which we allow them to explore whatever avenues of learning they see fit for themselves. This brings about a lot of deep diving that isn’t typically available in a standard educational setting. Our middle son, for example, has spent the past week learning everything there is to know about ants. The week before he became a bonsai farmer. It just goes on and on.
One question I was asked this past week was about the ecological impact of losing a species. Ants, you see, outnumber humans 2.5 million to one. You read that right. Everywhere ants can be, they are. As annoying as they can be, losing them would certainly imply ecological devastation. This is easy to see.
I was then asked, “What would happen to the Earth if all the humans were gone?” As we can see in sites like Chernobyl, ecosystems flourish without humans. The world would be clean and crisp again within just a few years. Within a blink of the Earth’s eye, the planet would be a Garden of Eden again.
What then, is the point of humans?
The other day I was sitting with our youngest son. He’s just turned a year. We were having breakfast together. On the table were some roses from our garden… sterling lavender ones that smell delightful and have a perfect light purple hue. They had been on the table for a couple days so they had started to drop petals. My son picked one up with his chubby little fingers and handed me one. I smiled from deep within and thanked him. I then handed it back to him and he smiled back at me. This exchange went on for some time, back and forth, back and forth. It was a magical moment that I was hesitant to share publicly if it weren’t for the important underlying message here.
Humans are here to pass rose petals back and forth with love.
We are here to appreciate and create beauty. We are here to love. Sometimes we aren’t doing a great job of it. If all you saw were the news, you’d think we were failing miserably. But turn the digital flow of garbage off and you’ll see we are succeeding around every corner you look.
There is beauty and kindness and love outside of the human realm. You can see it in domesticated and wild animals alike. But nobody does it like we do.
Nobody does it like you do.
See you at your next appointment.
—Jaime