Love Affair with Humanity

Today, I realized that I am in love the human race. Or maybe today I admitted it to myself. Those of you who know me probably already know this about me. So, I suppose you can read the rest of this just to say "I told you so."

I like to pretend that I can't stand people and that they make me crazy and I don't want to have anything to do with their dysfunctional selves. But, the truth is, I need them. I need to remember that I'm not the only dysfunctional disaster. I need to remember that, though I may feel poor and disadvantaged, I have it relatively easy. I need to see the softness in an old man's eyes, or the ferocity in the face of a frustrated teenager. And I need to remember that we each have a little of all of that within ourselves.

For the past few weeks I have been working from home, writing for a website and I realized that I feel a little isolated. (It doesn't help that my apartment is half underground so it feels like I'm hunkering down in a bomb shelter.) I have been craving human interaction. The three dogs that live upstairs just don't quite cut it.

I need to look at faces that are not my own. Strange or familiar. Friendly or otherwise. Humanity is all at once heartwarming and infuriating. And it's hard for me to find it anything but beautiful. At least right now. I know I will have my moments and days when I am gloomy about the state of the world and getting down on this mess of humanity that I'm a part of. But for the record, humanity, I love you.