A Letter To Humanity.

Dear Humanity,

Hello. Hi. Bonjour. Hola. Ciao. Hallo.

I could give you a greeting in every human language and you would understand.

A look. A smile. A wave. A nod.

I could greet you with any silent gesture of recognition and you would understand.

Yet for all of these greetings we could share, you must be rather lonely, for you greet us every day and somehow, we fail to understand you. We do not mishear, I assure you, but to your hello, in whatever form it takes, we seem to ignore, choke, stifle, and ultimately suppress you in return. We’ll do anything but greet you, and I’m sorry for that. I’m sure, deep down, we all are. Yet I know you understand why we treat you as one might treat an estranged lover: how we pretend that you’re invisible when you appear; how you make us harden our hearts and steel our minds; how you make us so compelled to say goodbye, when all you said, in whatever form, was hello.

You see, my dearest Humanity, in this case we do not fear what we do not know, but what we do not understand. I suppose this might be because we’ve all developed an accent thick with the drawl of society. We’ve grown so accustomed to its mild tone and courteous lull that often times we can no longer decipher the pure inflection of your speech.

Some hire a linguist.

Others prefer not to know.

If nothing else, I hope it brings you comfort to know that when we disregard the element of understanding, we all know you better than any on this earth.

I’m sure it makes you sad sometimes to be so isolated, so misunderstood. It makes us sad, too. So sad, in fact, that many of us spend our lives in quiet agony, searching for you.

Luckily, this is not a search that goes in vain. We all find you at some point. Many of us catch you in glimpses throughout our lives. Some only see you in death. Others have fleeting interactions. A few of us have long conversations, from time to time. Some even dedicate their lives to understanding and speaking in your distantly familiar vernacular.

The point is, Humanity, though we may turn away from you, you speak to all of us. Therefore, no matter how hard we try, none of us may forget you. You are, after all, from who we came, and to who we will return.

All the best,

Taylor Grace.