October 11, 2023

“Humans make things up like patriarchy and Barbie 
just to deal with how uncomfortable it [being human] is.”
– Ruth Handler in Barbie

Beloveds,

I promise I’ll stop quoting from the Barbie movie soon, but this little gem from the end of the movie is just too good. In my house, we often remind each other that “it’s hard to be human.” For us, it’s an expression of compassion and also encouragement to patience and courage and equanimity (in Buddhism, a state of mental balance and even-mindedness), all of which can be remarkably difficult in the face of the many, many ways we humans try to get around discomfort, let alone our survival-driven responses to the traumas that come inevitably with living. I suppose it amounts to one way of practicing love, by resisting (even just for a few seconds) the urges toward critique and judgment that so easily arise in the face of a world in which so much is so obviously not as it should be, in favor of remembering and responding as best we can in every instance to the simultaneously particular and universal needs and longings at the core of every life. 

It is hard to be human, and sometimes we make up all manner of things in response to discomfort and hardship. But sometimes, we also choose to pause and remember that we are all connected and all in need, not just of recognition of our worth and dignity, but of tenderness and care.

Yours in all that is hard and all that connects us, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org