Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Mahatma Ghandi

This year has made me question humanity. Are humans inherently good, with outside influences that corrupt us, causing us to become selfish and bitter and full of hate, or are we inherently evil, and these things just come naturally to us?

I don’t know the answer but I don’t want to believe the latter.

I want to believe that human beings are born good and pure and just, and that circumstances teach us otherwise. That life happens, and we become stained. Broken. That we just forget to be human.

I want to believe this because then at least there is some hope for humanity. Then at least all the evils of the world are reversible. All the hatred, and prejudice, and destruction can be unlearned.

I want to believe this so desperately because I want to believe that I, too, am inherently good; and that my beautiful nieces and nephew, who are still young and unspoiled, are inherently good. And that they can still be salvaged from this world. In fact, looking at them convinces me of this fact.

I want to believe that human beings are inherently good because I want to be able to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I want to believe that the future of humanity is not as grey as this year has let on; that we will work together to vaccinate the poor, and protect each other and beat this pandemic; that we will defy our greed and show compassion for our planet; that we will put aside our differences and embrace each other has fellow human beings. I want to believe that kindness will overcome hate, and that justice and love will overcome racism, and bigotry and malice.

I want to believe that humans are inherently good because I want to believe in a future that is inherently good.