Skip to main content

The Light in the Faces of Our Incredible Human Family

National Geographic Journalist Paul Salopek is walking across the world on foot to trace the pathways of the first humans who wandered out of Africa in the Stone Age to claim the earth as theirs. His journey will cover 21,000 miles and is estimated to take 10 years. He is four years into his massive expedition and already he has discovered that humanity is mostly kind and generous, welcoming and caring, hard-working and disciplined.

I watched a brief piece about Salopek’s journey on the PBS News Hour this week. I have included a link below.

What is extraordinary about his adventure is his realization that in spite of all the wars and turmoil across the globe, he has learned that “The world is an incredibly hospitable place.” In following the ancient trade route called “The Silk Road,” Salopek has gotten to know a variety of people young and old. And though he has so far encountered a few dangerous situations where he had his water supply stolen, was once ambushed by raiders, and was shot at, he says the vast majority of people have been “fantastically positive.” He says, “Most people are good and will help you out even if they don’t look like you or speak like you.”

Salopek has already crossed into 12 countries and has met hundreds of people, experienced many languages, cultures, and religions, and has been convinced that people all over the world are instinctively decent, altruistic, and humane.

Watching this brief report on this fascinating man and his incredible journey reminded me that in industrialized countries, in nations of influence, power and wealth, including the United States, we are being fed throughout various media outlets, through our corrupt political systems, through a bankrupt moral code worldwide, a treacherous and mostly false picture of humanity.

It is true there are terrible people in every country, unscrupulous, cruel, vicious people full of hate and selfishness, meanness and violence. But they do not represent the majority of the people in the world. They do not represent the majority of people in America.

We are continuously assaulted by messages that say most Muslims are deadly people-hating terrorists; that most Blacks are thuggish violent criminals; that most Mexicans are job stealers and illegals; that most Whites are arrogant and bigoted, are raging Rednecks and ignorant jerks; that gays destroy family values; that women are weak and inferior baby killers; that the educated are snobs; that the poor are inhuman; that cops are beasts; and that we are surrounded on every corner by malevolent, depraved people out to harm and destroy us.

Paul Salopek says that is hogwash. His brilliant and courageous odyssey is revealing a world of beautiful people, uncorrupted, benevolent, courteous and honorable. And they are the majority of the world populace, not the stingy, wicked, devious few who make the news every day, who capture the attention of greedy capitalists who use those despicable people and their actions in order to make money off of their provocative behavior and are then made to scare the rest of us into thinking this is our world.

Someone has said that the heart of humankind is a cactus in bloom. It is an apt image. There is of course good and bad in all of us. But today we only see the needles and the rough, thick covering. We miss entirely the flourishing flower.

We have to take responsibility for how we view others. We must dismiss all of the angry hype the news feeds us, the violent images, the endless acts of wrongdoing, the hurting of people over and over again, without ever telling us about the boundless examples of decent goodness and transforming love in the hearts and lives of so many around us.

We are larger; we are better people the world over than we are given credit for. But most are too often unrecognized, dismissed, and forgotten in the obscene world of graphic violence, hate, greed and murder that has become our only reality.

I think of Milton’s great line, “O dark, dark, dark, amid the blazing sun.”

It is time we stopped listening to the harsh naysayers, the manipulators filling us with nothing but darkness and dread. It is time to discover, as Paul Salopek has, the light in the faces of our incredible human family.



© 2017 Timothy Moody

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

We are Made for Human Connection

There are words from Brandi Carlile’s song, “The Story,” that I might sing, and perhaps you, too. “All of these lines across my face Tell you the story of who I am So many stories of where I've been And how I got to where I am But these stories don't mean anything When you've got no one to tell them to” You don’t have to be single or alone to feel the depth of those words. Someone in a longtime marriage or relationship might feel them, too. The voyage through life takes each one of us through an assortment of experiences. Some of them ennoble us. Some crush us. Some lift us beyond ourselves and carry us into the lives of those who need us. And some carry us to those we need. Some experiences are burdens. Others ease and encourage us. Some leave us baffled and unsure. Some build confidence within us and are so affirming that we grow in substance, in courage, in tenderness, and sympathy. As we age, the lines in our faces can represent the hurts we have not yet resolved. Or t

Remembering Dr. Bill Craig

In Memoriam  Dr. Bill Craig January 1, 2020 In the Hebrew Bible, we see from the life of Moses, and the Psalmist, Isaiah and others , concern for the problem of living rather than the problem of dying.   Their primary interest was not how to escape death, but rather, how to sanctify life. Bill modeled that kind of wisdom.  The brilliant novelist Louis L'Amour, who wrote bestselling books about the American West, what he called “frontier stories,” basically said the same thing. He wrote, “The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail.” No one attempted to sanctify life and get more out of the trail than Bill Craig. He was a deep thinker, a gifted veterinarian, a rugged and unbreakable man with the kindest heart and the purest motives.  He was a loving and devoted husband, father, and grandfather. Karen, Shalor and Melissa, Kellan, Nolan and Carter, were his world. They meant everything to him. I guess he had faults, but I don’t remember any of them.  There was o

If I had five minutes to evacuate--what would I take with me?

If I was told there was a bomb in my building and I had five minutes to evacuate my apartment I’d grab a grocery bag and quickly toss these items into it: 1. A photo of my grandparents, Mom and Pop and me, when I was 15 years old. I learned what love is made of from them. I learned what it is to be kissed on and hugged in arms so tender they felt like God’s arms. I discovered self worth from those two angels in human flesh. Of all the people in my life, they were the ones who made me feel I counted. Honestly, whatever capacity I have to love others came from them. 2. A sentimental, dog-eared, stars in the margin copy of Pat Conroy’s, “The Prince of Tides.” It is a book I have read three times and often return to for its wisdom. It is a harsh, profoundly tragic novel, the story of a family so broken and tortured by such flawed and wounded people that it is sometimes difficult to turn the next page. And yet it is the story of such Herculean courage and endurance that you want