In Aristotle’s sense – “Virtue is Excellence at Being Human”.

But today, have we acquired that virtue or have we turned out to be human in its real meaning. Let's find out Delhi gang rape case of 2014, attack on Malala Yousufzai, the 9/11 attack, 26/11 attack, 1993 Mumbai Blasts, Sikh riots, Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attack, US attack on Vietnam, Holocaust, World Wars, etc. these all events have left behind various questions, which when gone through, make us doubtful of our humanity and force us to think – are we humans? What is the meaning of being human?

Are we able to evolve fully from our ancestors? Are animals superior than us? Has the greatest miracle of nature turned out to be the greatest evil? Are we challenging the sovereignty of the Almighty? Is human turning out to be the real black hole on the earth? Is a revolution needed? Is evolution once again needed?

Above questions are not an exaggeration, but simply an insight into the seriousness of the situation. Our Milky Way galaxy has about a hundred billion stars and our solar system is also found in this galaxy. In this solar system, eight planets exist, but earth is the only planet which supports life. Earth is the only planet which has all the ideal conditions necessary to support life. Our earth is about 4.54 billion years old and about 10 to 14 million species are found on it. Amongst them, one species, called homo sapiens is also found which belong to present day ‘human’. Total world population of humans is about 7.4 billion. But have we ever enquired into the fact that, do this large population of humans really satisfying the purpose of its evolution. We all know that human possesses certain exceptional qualities, one could never imagine if we think of the remaining species of the earth.

As per dictionary, the word ‘human’ means a creature which is characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech and erect carriage’.

Now, let us see, what dictionary says about other living creatures – the word ‘animal’ means ‘a living organism characterized by voluntary movement’; and the word ‘plant’ means ‘a living organism lacking the power of locomotion’. Now, if we comparatively examine these three definitions of human, animal, and plant respectively, then we will witness a gradual decrease in the power of communication and ability to do work. In humans, superior intelligence, articulate speech and locomotion ability are present. Thus, he not only can think about others, can communicate for the benefit of the others but even take the victim to the safer place in case of any hazardous situation. If we talk about animals, they just possess the ability of locomotion. Though some will say that they even possess inherit intelligence and they can even speak, it is true, but this ability is only for the communication and movement for their own interests, not for other species. A lion can never take you to the hospital, you will require a human for this purpose.

If we talk about plants, they even do not possess locomotion ability. A plant can give you raw food, but you will require a human to prepare it for eating. So, if we analyse all this, we can say that logically and morally human has all the god gifted powers, with which, not only he can make world a safer place for his own race, but even for other 14 million species of the world. Has human performed his duty? The answer is No!

Let us get confronted with various evidence which will give an insight into the seriousness of the situation and also, why the answer is no. Our world, though its geography has changed many a times from Gondwana land to the present day landscape; but its war history has never changed in terms of its impact and aftermaths. Initially, battles used to take place between regional kings for regional dominance, then between two rival kings for world dominance. After this, when kings’ rule ended, colonisation and confrontation between countries started which led to various wars like the Cremian War, Anglo-French wars and also the World wars. Facts have the view that about 18 lakh people of Japan died in the nuclear attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Aftermaths were even more disastrous, for many years, those who were born in Japan, either died within a short span of time or born with various deformities. This could not be the example of humanity! If we imagine, we can’t even recognize the scenario and greviousness of the situation prevalent at that time in Japan. At present, the situation is not very good either. Today also, Russia and Ukraine conflict is prevalent. Even a new element called ‘Terrorism’ has joined them, which is blindly racing for dominance, and many countries are giving them protection to suit their own set of schemes. Still we say that we are ‘humans’.This is of international importance that is why it has got such a worldwide recognition, but onlyrecognition, no solution.

But its mini picture in the form of crime is prevalent worldwide, but the situation is more serious in developing countries, like India. How can we forget that night of December, 2014 when in New Delhi, the most brutal gang rape case had occurred. An act which had shaken the entire humanity from its very foundation. But, have we learnt anything. No! Have we made any reforms to prevent it in the future? No. Situation is not much different even today as well. Still, everyday’s newspapers deal mainly with crime incidents – rapes, murders, etc.It is said that human learns from his mistakes. Have we learnt anything? Are we humans? Even this topic also receives media coverage and people talk about it. But there is also a hidden picture which has not received much recognition till this time. This picture is of the deplorable condition of our flora and fauna. We all know that on earth, about 14 million species of all living beings together live in one form or the other. But according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resource (IUCN), about 784 species of both flora and fauna have been extinct since the year 1500; and even many more are on the verge of extinction.

What is the reason? Has the land on earth is insufficient to cope up with the rising species population? Or, have we taken away their habitat? Can we still say ourselves ‘humans’? Besides this, many other acts are also very much serious in situation – Discrimination on the basis of cast and religion (especially in developing countries ), discrimination on the basis of races (USA), prohibition on women education (in muslim countries like Pakistan) and forceful torture to join terrorism (Pakistan).

Can we still say ourselves ‘humans’?

Situation is definitely very serious and it will multiply if it will not be stopped in the coming years. But for this, firstly we have to analyse the reasons responsible for it. Some of them are – ambition, selfishness, lack of sensitivity towards others and lack of foresightedness. But today, the situation has become alarming and it needs to be solved as soon as possible. It could only be achieved with the revival of actual ‘human’ and our understanding of the real meaning of ‘being human’.

‘Being Human’ only means to possess all those characteristics with which human was born, but with the passage of time, vices like greed, selfishness, over ambition, etc. have overshadowed them. Thus, for ‘being human’, we have to remove all these vices and endow such qualities as described below. We all know about a four lettered word ‘love’, which has the strength of not only removing all the difficulties of our own human race, but also of making the entire world and exemplar example of humanity. Our history has many evidences which can prove that the real strength of ‘being human’ is to love others and with this strength, he can not only face any situation, no matter how hard it is, but also has the power of solving it. In the nineteenth century, one of India’s greatest social reformers, Raja Rammohan Roy, had not only fought against various vices prevalent in contemporary India like untouchability, sati, humiliating treatment of widows, etc. but also solved them. It is just because of his efforts that the British passed a law in 1829, which banned sati in India. Father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, also presented an exemplar example of ‘love’. He worked for the upliftment of untouchables, and even had a mild ‘humane’ behaviour against the cruel Britishers. But ‘love’ has no boundaries and our history even presents evidences that ‘human’ even has ‘love’ for plants and animals. Chipko Movement and Save Our Tigers campaign are such evidences. Today, we all love our family members. Do we hurt them? No. even a terrorist and a brutal rapist never does anything wrong with their respective families. So, for ‘being human’, we have to cultivate the same love and respect, that we have for our families, for others also. When we will be able to do this, then only, we will be able to implement the meaning of ‘Vasudev Kutumbakam’.

Second important quality, that we, as humans, must possess is ‘selflessness’. Human has the quality thathe can think of others even if he has to sacrifice his entire life for the same. History even unfolds various evidences to support the same. One of the greatest examples is that of Mother Teresa, who had sacrificed her entire life in the service of mankind. But today, in our rapid race of development, we somewhere have forgotten this quality. So, for ‘being human’, we have to cultivate the same quality of ‘selflessness’, so that we can do at least some good, not only for our human race, but for the entire living organisms also.

The third important quality, that we, as humans, must have is ‘constructive intelligence’. We all know that human has the power of experimentation and drawing out inference. Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, Graham Bell, Erwin Scrodinger, James Watt, etc. could not have been the part of our history, if our humanity did not possess the precious quality of ‘constructive intelligence’. But, with the passage of time, we somewhere have become disillusioned and started possessing the vice of ‘destructive intelligence’. Abu Salem, etc. are part of disillusioned humanity. Thus, for ‘being human’, it is necessary that instead of deploying our intelligence in infiltration and making nuclear weapons, we should adopt the path of ‘constructive intelligence’, by making habitats suitable for living of flora, fauna and of the entire human race.

Another quality, that we, as humans, must possess is ‘sensitization’. Today, if a country has a poor population, then the government always targets the plight of the population, instead of finding solutions. The same thing it does for crime as well. And on the other hand, we humans, always target the government for all these difficulties. Therefore, for ‘being human’, it is extremely necessary on either side to develop the feeling of ‘sensitization’ towards others. The Delhi Gang Rape case was the result of lack of sensitization on the part of both, the government and the people. Hence, it is necessary that whatever position, we as humans hold, whether in government, or outside, should develop ‘sensitization’ for others. When in government, we should make such laws and reforms that could prevent such a brutal crime in the future. When not in government, we should develop ‘sensitization’ on moral grounds for helping others, so that such a brutal crime never happen in future. Thus, for ‘being human’, sensitization is necessary.

As it is said that “Prevention is Better than Cure”, but it could only be implemented when, besides, the above said qualities, we, as ‘humans’, also possess the quality of ‘foresight’. Today, we all know, that in shaping our prosperous future, education plays a very crucial role; but today, it appears that certain nations do not know this, or the pretend of not knowing that, because, if they would have known that, the incident of Malala Yousufzai’s attempted assassination would have never occurred. Situation is not very good even today in certain muslim countries. Still, girl education is not given that much priority as given to a boy’s education in these muslim countries. Therefore, for ‘being human’, we have to cultivate ‘foresight’ that such precious instrument, like education is beyond regional and religious boundaries and no matter, to which strata of society, you belong, education can give you a prosperous and bright future.

This is possible – Raja Rammohan Roy did it in the nineteenth century, Mahatma Gandhi did it in the twentieth century and we can do it in the 21 st century, provided we understand the real meaning of ‘being human’.

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