The importance of being human first

Opinion

Richard Wagamese, the award-winning Indigenous author, reporter and broadcaster in One Native Life, 2008, under the heading The Birth and Death of Super Injun, recounts a particularly memorable session with an elder John Rock Thunder.

“To be the ultimate Indian,” Wagamese was told to start from his heart in the order of his creation, “first a human being, then a male, then an Ojibwa Indian.”

I think this advice could serve as a particularly helpful reminder to us in today’s politics of identity, difference and division. We might want to reconsider our starting points for our relationships and interactions.

To my reading, the elder was reminding Wagamese about something we should all acknowledge humbly — we are all human beings doing our best among others trying to do the same. Lives are made up of all of our experiences and we can choose to see them as learning along the way or as sometimes unforgettable insurmountable problems. That nothing in life is permanent, final and immutable — other than that we have been granted a life to live as best we can.

Sometimes our associations and loyalties get in the way thoughtful judgments. In his instance, Wagamese’s dress, his justifiably angry rhetoric and his critique of the system and others were his definition of his what it meant to be Indigenous. They were crowding out his natural humanity and the best of his cultural heritage. The question remains unresolved — what is a human being?

I have asked this question in a different way of thousands of people, “what does it mean to be a good person?” It’s a fair question put in the hope that everyone wants to be good. The answers received are always the same. Someone who is honest, caring, thoughtful, knowledgeable, empathetic, trustworthy, responsible, self-governing, open minded and the like. Despite the images that people have in mind about these terms, we can recognize that they are all relational.

That is a conclusion that Rutger Bregman in Humankind: A Hopeful History draws from his historical research. He claims that, contrary to popular beliefs fostered by Hobbesian philosophy, humans are not born immoral and do not revert to savagery if unchecked by greater powers. By nature, most are kind and more inclined to cooperation for the good of all than to individual greed, power and fearmongering. The latter are learned reactions and conditioned reflexes to indoctrination, conspiracy theories and simply misinformation. His claims challenge our religious, cultural and political tendencies — I share a few which I find particularly vexing.

As a Christian myself, I am deeply disturbed by those who call themselves Christian and anchor their goodness on being anti-abortion and gender intolerant, claiming their “truths” as the only way to salvation. As a Mennonite, I do not believe in the glorification of war or that any wars and their atrocities are warranted or are necessary for justice and peace to emerge. As a democratic citizen, I do not believe that divisive and extreme partisan politics are the way to conduct human affairs. I struggle with being a good person in the face of these seeming inhumanities.

My answer is that we need education more than ever at a time when the public school system in North America is under attack from many fronts, precisely because of its stances on inclusion, equity and justice. I accept that any inhuman(e) dispositions we have are learned — hatred, prejudice, discrimination, greed, violence, power based on fear, and entitlement — are not a part of human nature at its best.

Our public schools invite and accept everyone as they are. At their best, they teach empathy and acceptance in addition to understanding and knowledge. They insist on children and young people being taught to treat others with respect and dignity, and to expect the same from others. Students learn to take responsibility for the world beyond their languages, cultures, traditions and yes, grievances. While not perfect, they represent humanity at its best, something which no other public or private institution can claim. They are our hope for a better future and, dare I say, a national treasure we should all be proud of and support. The last word.

What is a human being? Aren’t we all human beings? No.

“A human being thinks with (the) heart … has respect for (all) life … and nature … That thinks everybody is equal no matter what colour they are or what language they speak. That is a human being. … And I want my children to get along with the white children, learn to share and live like human beings.” — Emily Benedek, The wind won’t know me: A history of the Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba.