This is the definition of humantity

What does it mean to be human? Human life can be interpreted and defined in numerous ways. It is simply a matter of opinion.
As I was creating my “definition of humanity” montage I decided to use more earthy colors to represent the connection between human life and nature. A large part of what it means to be human is to have the ingenuity to take what resources the earth supplies and to use them for survival. The thought process that goes into the way in which we create things from and destroy things in our natural environment is a piece of human identity.
Furthermore, all humans are driven forward by DESIRE and are held back by the FEAR that we may never be good enough, that we will never have worth, that we will never get what we DESIRE in life. A wonderful part of being human is that we have physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual DESIREs yet unfortunately with being human comes that hindering FEAR that keeps us from acquiring what we want most in life.
As we go through life, chasing our dreams and being blockaded by uncertainty we learn things about ourselves that change the courses that we are on and the things that we pursue. With each tweak to our goals and lifestyles we add another layer to our life, whether it’s a new lesson learned, a new relationship started, the loss of a loved one, or a career change. The four layers in the center represent these changes, because although we have added or adjusted things to our life it is not replacing what we experienced in the past it is simply adding to it. To be human means to be able to adapt to these changes and accept the past for what it is.
These are the things that make up the human existence and define who we are.

Struggle

In the journey of life, there are "problems" we find in society. Each one of these is personal and relative to each person. For example, people who are poor, struggle to eat and find places to live, while people who are rich may struggle to find meaning in anything because it can always be bought. The world is chaotic and problematic and as humans we will always find something that we are unsatisfied with, that is inevitable. The question is how we deal with our problems. The two paths we are given are capitulation or struggle. We can exist in a state of numbness (symbolized by the mood elevating pills) or just plain give up (the rope). If we choose a different path other than giving up, we can struggle. To be human is to deal with our surroundings and come to terms with the things we despise or torture us. The feat is, in my opinion, reached through knowledge and education (the lightbulb "brain" and books holding up the "rock" of life).

What it Means to be Human

Being human is living under a solid bell jar, but being able to move around freely within it. It is knowing how to play by the rules, yet it being okay to break it. Being human is being like one of the majority, but the one and only of the majority. It is when emotions are never wrong, but when certain emotions are just not quite right. It is the beautiful irony in being human. It is when the most complex creation of mind and body cannot configure every question. More often than not, it is natural to absorb the answers provided inside the bell jar. But being human is having the ability to rightfully challenge or sincerely adopt the answers as ones own.

The Humanity of Humans

This panel represents, symbolically, the common motifs that I recognize in society. Life's seeming randomness, yet seeming purposefulness was a big inspiration for my creation. Furthermore, the "interconectedness" of life, humanity's natural organization, evolution, and faith are all represented within my patch. I approached "What does it mean to be human?" from a holistic, "socionatural" point of view, that is, what humanity has come to be over the eons, what has characteristically represented human existence, and what sets us apart from everyone else.
My effort was to break conventional artistic valus with this panel, yet also attribute to those new conventions specific symbolic importance. I tried to excercise humanity's greatest and most exclusive quality, creativity, in, essentially, describing the human condition. Through the dissonant, yet visually appealing background I captured life's "unity through disunity," or how humankind seems disjointed, sparse; how one's life seems random and unconnected to anyone else's, yet somehow, through some force, everything comes together in the end. It is this mystical feeling that I tried to capture, and in doing so, I violate one of Art Theory's traditional treatises: the compliment of a dark background to a bright, colorful, foreground, to which I did the exact opposite. Furthermore, the pictures themselves symbolize what I view as exclusive to the human experience, and how humanity is able to rival nature and her creative forces in our ability to create new life rivaling, and even surpassing the complexity of other animals. The ability to create artificial landscapes; skyscrapers that rival nature's mountains. And the social interactions that are similiar in essence to all other animals, but to us it is fundamentally different in that it forms a cornerstone of our human experience.

One of the meanings to what it means to be human is to find infinite beauty in the smallest things. As humans we tend to have one ideal picture of what beauty is. We listen to society's opinions and we base off our behavior and our decisions according to what everyone else would deem an "ideal thought" of a certain stereotype. Of course there are those of us who find beauty in not the material things that were made by the human hand and were created for our self needed purpose but the natural things such as nature which was not made by man and something we cannot explain all the time. Even so, something as small as a growing tree plant or a butterfly is what inspired people to do great things and to go beyond our potential. Where did we get the idea to fly if it was not for someone who not only saw the flight of a bird but found infinite beauty and inspiration in that flight of that bird? Where did we get the idea to paint a picture or create music if it was not for that one person who not only saw the colors and heard a rhythm in nature but found infinite beauty in it as well? It starts out like that at first and that is one of the many beauties that humans have. Humans have the ability to see something so simple as a seed or a small plant find and find potential in it and create something out of it and it is not like someone has to find beauty in everything he or she sees. The beauty of free will gives humans a chance to pick what he or she gets drawn to. That is why some people are more drawn to music and art and others are more drawn to dancing and sports. They find beauty in these certain things and potential and from there they let their passion grow so that they consume within this thing and make this small thing they see so much beauty in become something much bigger. Like Einstein's interest for "small atoms" lead him to create something so powerful as the atomic bomb and as authors' love for writing leads them to create classic books, humans have the ability, that no other creature has, to get something and create something out of it and not only create something out of it and this is where the infinite part comes in. When a human starts off with something small and creates something bigger out of it, it can inspire the person themself or even other people to create something off of that or create something else because they were inspired off that one thing. It creates a chain reaction for if the new creation made from the previous creation inspires others, they themselves will possibly create something based off of that creation and so on. It continues on forever because people will constantly change and try to improve the creations and continue on and it all started off from something so basic and small. Like a small seed which grew into a beautiful flower which inspired someone to paint it and someone wrote a book dedicated to the painting which was read by someone else to go travel the world and see the place depicted in that book, the human ability to see infinite beauty in the smallest things proves to be something much more grand than alot of people can perceive.

What it Means to Be Human

To me what it mean to be human is finding your niche or place in life. The fish in the water presents the question, "Are you a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in big pond?" Finding out what you are good at and trying out new things and the perception in which go about doing this all refelect what it means to be human. The sun represents the light that you are to the world. A divine being who illuminates those around them and can serve as a role model to whoever looks up to them. Marianne Williamson's quote best explains the use of the sun (link http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson). The clouds represent the vast interpretations we have of the world. When we look up at a cloud we ask, "What do you see" and are different opinions shape what we are and the individuality that makes us human.

What it means to be human is quite a difficult thing to attempt to capture on 6" by 6" square panel. My square has a flower with many layers of different colors which represent underlying emotions and feelings which often play a role in complicating human feeling. There is a light bulb which represents thought. Thought is imperative to being human because it is what separates us from animals and insects. The money on the upper left hand side of the panel represents greed and value. Human beings often evaluate the value of people, objects, and feelings. The post card on the top center represents the fact that humans are very social for the most part and are in constant contact with one another. The train ticket represents the fact that human beings tend to be mobile and wonder often, if not in the physical sense then at least in thought. The corset in the bottom left corner represents social constraint and its effects on human morals, actions, and opinion. The bottom right corner's checkered design represents how humans fall into patterns of habit which may be good or bad. The alcoholic beverage label in the upper right hand corner represents human addiction which coincides with the idea of habitual action.

my paperquilt

The design I went for to explain my view on humanity's meaning was abstract interpretations. Using two different designs symbolizing the abilities of humans for good or bad, one color is used in both of them to point out how the two rely on each other. These two forces are the knowledge that humans hold and the river down the middle represents this cumulation. We take the two forces and apply them to out ever flowing wisdom and create our flow we follow. The choices we make regarding the two forces can be perverted when we try to follow a flow that is not our own.

Like My Mom

Humans fail at times. Individually, we may fail each other or personal goals. Collectively, we sometimes fail nature or nations. What makes us humans is to feel this failure, to feel our hearts sink; yet, many of us find a way to continue and soar above our failure.

You Never Know...

Here goes nothing...
There are many "meanings" to what it means to be human. But in my opinion, here is what it means, it means that you will never know what tomorrow will bring. Life is full of complete and total unexpectedness. It could be what you wanted, what you didn't want, it could be the greatest, or it could be the worst. Here is the thing-though many people think there is a right path or that everything is going to be full-steam ahead- there are bumps in the road, things are going to happen and challenges are going to arise. But that's what is great about being human, if you knew everything that was going to happen daily what would be the point. The best parts of life are those surprises or even the challenging times, because they make you better, stronger, and human. My panel does a simple thing it shows you that your not going to know what's coming next; the use of the fish, the bumpy ticket, and the arrow, they all show that there are going to be times that your just going to wonder "what's going on" and "what's this doing here". To be human is to never know what tomorrow will bring, you just live the way it comes.

The Search for Happiness

To be human is to find true happiness. Human beings are given the freedoms of speech, religion, etc., the ability to love, laugh, and lie, emotions to mingle with, and the ability to create friendships, some can be more meaningful than others. Humans are incredibly complex creatures that are thrown into a world of good and bad, but the ultimate goal in a humans life is to reach a limbo, a stage in their life where they are not worried, sad or sick, simply a time of pure happiness. Every human has a different description of happiness. Happiness can be a promotion in ones career after many years of hard labor, birth to a first child, finding out a desired item is 50% off, receiving a driver's licence, finding that "fish in the sea", or graduating from college. Happiness differs from one person to another, but in the long run it's that smile and brightened face that gleams of joy that sums up what a human is. Jealousy, rage, depression, hunger, tears, sorrow, and death illustrate what a human fights day to day. To get out of a shelter and own a home, to see a best friend again after a tragic accident, to get up after a first fall are all situations that any one human can strive for. To be human is to search for happiness and one day finally find it.

What does it mean to be human???????

What does it mean to be human???????!!!!!

In life there is only one thing constant, change. Therefore, what it means to be human is one has to experience the pain in life in order to experience the joy. Life brings unexpected blessings and challenges that can be short term or long term. In order to surpass the pain, sadness, or hate and reach happiness, joy, or wisdom in life one needs to acknowledge his or her own weaknesses and apply his or her own strengths. One never knows what tomorrow may bring, whether it may be rejection or approval. One thing is for sure though, once one has reached rock bottom the only thing to do is to move up.

My panel explains all my realizations I had this year. From family and friend problems, unexpected deaths of teachers and friends, to my own personal growth I realize that life is nothing but a rollercoaster. The colors in my panel signify different things. The red signifies the pain one has to deal with, the blue is the sadness and low moments in life, and the yellow is the happiness and joy. These colors run in sequence becuase pain and sadness are more common in life but the happiness is occassional yet it is those moments that stand out the most. The two orange arrows signify the obstacles in life that may interfere with one's plans or happiness. The human faces have the expression of deep thought which is what our brain is constantly doing. Therefore, a combination of all these aspects defines the difference of being human, which is the feelings and conscience we have towards life.

Beneath it All

What does it mean to be human? My panel to its simplicity is seeing beyond certain things in life. Each of the items on my panel were used as basic symbols to represent things in life that I believe the majority of humanity does not see beyond that almost makes them seem un-human. There is a cut out of pills in the corner that has the text, “Another day, don’t forget to take the soma”. This represented the use of drugs in today’s society and how people are addictive to things like anti-depressants giving them a false perception on reality. Although there are people that are biologically needy of certain drugs, I am specifically talking about people that abuse drugs. People who abuse drugs make the people who need them seem like abusers as well. I’m sure that there are a large amount of people that do not need prescription drugs but use them anyway to get that false insight on life that make things easier to get through. Another symbol used in my panel was Christ imagery with the stem of a flower going over the skulls head like thorns. I think that religion is a very important motivator in human behavior but sometimes I think that it may be the only motivator in people’s lives that causes them to lose a sense of self. Sometimes people use religion to justify actions, just like history shows us. Next is the symbol of the dollar bill, which I used to represent America in particular, this I connected with religion and another symbol in the panel which is the lips pasted onto the skull. There's a lot of different elements of underlying fascism in America, and one of them is always in organized religion. Also the idea that people are always trying to convince you that you have to be beautiful in order to fit in, you have to use a certain type of toothpaste, you have to use a certain type of shampoo or drive a certain car for people to accept you. I think that being human has to do with seeing being these few examples and finding one’s own status quo. The skull in the panel is just me exaggerating on the emphasis of seeing underneath the things that I have explained. The final symbol in the panel is the evolution of human kind. How the pattern I see is the monkey, the man and then the gun. I think mankind flatters itself by thinking it's the final evolution. Because I think we'll see in the next few years that man will create an intelligence that could replace him. Technology is taking over humanity; the gun is the representation of a new being because people are driven by power just like in “Crime and Punishment”. In conclusion, I f do not feel that to be human one has to eliminate these things in life but one has to know how to use these things in life as long as one keeps a sense of self. You can either be used by things in life or you can use them. Whichever way you want to look at it.

The Essence of Being Human

Being human means feeling a variety of emotions and choosing the ways to act upon them. Love, Hate, Tranquility, and Jealousy are just some of the feelings that come naturally and as humans, it is our job to differentiate the way we feel and the way we act. The choices humans make define them; they can hate and make war, love and be with loved ones, sharing joy, peace and hope. This square shows the changes in mood, as the top left corner shows the strongest feelings of hatred, and the lower right corner represents the most peaceful and calm moods human beings are capable of. The colors in each of the collage items contain all the colors of the rainbow, much like the wide variety of human emotion and essence. This tile embodies how man is subject to a whole spectrum of emotions that make up the human psyche, and it is choices on whether to act upon each emotion that defines the human character.

Live, Laugh, Love

To be human is to live, laugh, and love. One might argue that plants and animals live, hyenas laugh, and pets love, and they are all not human beings. Each day, someone realizes that they have to live their life because it is too short to be spent worrying. People fully attempt to change themselves and to live their life to the fullest, to accomplish goals they’ve always wanted to reach, to take a risk and try something new, and to make their life as seemingly perfect and happy as possible. However, it’s the little imperfections in life that make everyone human.
As humans, we are emotional beings, capable of anger, rage, hatred, sadness, affection, and love. Laughter can spur happiness or it can cause one to cry, from too much laughter that is. When someone is rather stoic and does not laugh or smile, one would usually assume that person is not human because, well, it is human nature to laugh, smile, and express excitement, not just to keep a straight, stone cold face.
Some say that what truly separates human beings from the rest of the beings in the universe is a human’s ability to love. People simply do what they love. They study what they want in school so they can love their future career. Many play to sports they love because it brings them happiness. To be human is to do everything you love. To be human is to live to be imperfect, to laugh until you cry, and to love with everything within you and more.

Just to be...

To me....

To be human means to feel love, to have lust, and to stress. To stress about work, school, and life. To be human means to have questions and to want answers and to search for solutions. To want to know things you didn't know about. To be human means to feel alive. To know that life is not perfect and never will be. The only thing expected of life is imperfection. To be human is to feel sensitive and dark and to have fears. I am absolutely terrified of spiders. To be human is to stop time and live in the moment. To love food and movies. To be human means to have choices. To be human is just to be.....just to be.....

Life is a journey.

To be human, means to search for meaning in ones life and ultimately find who you are. The collage of words and phrases are qualities that one may try to achieve, such as charismatic or articulate, or things we all chase, such as freedom and love. In between are words that may block this path, such as struggles or turbulent times. In the middle, the pink abstraction serves as a symbol- a neuron. If one is familiar with Psychology or the ways our brain works, neurons carry impulses that transmit and relay messages throughout our body with neurotransmitters. When enough energy is present, a neuron experiences an "action potential" where the neurotransmitter jumps across the open space, the synapse, and attaches to the dendrites of the next neuron. Life, in many ways, is similar to a neurotransmitter. When enough happens in one's stage of life, they may move on to the next and hope to achieve whatever they set out to do. They may not, however, move on if enough "energy", satisfaction, happiness, or sense of achievement is present. That is why, in the middle, it says "life is a journey."

Enduring the Stage of Life

To be human means to follow your passions, doing what you like no matter what others around you might think. In other words, one must put themselves in front of everyone around them risking embarrassment, ridicule, and adversity in order to get the complete taste of life. While striving for your goal, no matter what it may be, humans must at some point face failure; this disappointment is also essential to life. Without disappointment, one can not fully enjoy victory. While life may seem like a stage surrounded by booing audience members, humans have to keep enduring the negatives, keeping their ultimate goal in mind. Learning from these disappointments is necessary to shaping one's character and outlook on life, but it is also necessary to be able to laugh at your mistakes and at your disappointments because life can not be taken too seriously. Life is much to short when compared to the eternity of the universe; so loosen up, endure the disappointments, experience something new everyday, and don't be afraid to fail. To be human means to live life to its fullest potential, and if that means everyone thinks you're a weirdo, than so be it.

It's Complicated...

"Man is harder than a rock, and more fragile than an egg" -Yugoslavian Proverb.

What it means to be Human? It means to be compassionate. It means to be loving and caring. It means to be a source of support for others. It means to be deceitful. It means to be careless and selfish. It means to question others. It means to be trustworthy yet never trusting. It means to love bust still having love for only oneself. It means a wide variety of things. I tried to illustrate the many layers of the human character through they overlapping of pictures. The words printed are only a small fragment ofo human emotion and connections. To be human means to be the most wonderful being while still being the most destructive. To be human is not only having the right anatomy, it is having the emotions to match it.

What's that? I'm human?

Being human is finding and being ourselves, even when we feel like fish out of the water. In our society we are separated by who we associate with, the amount of money we have, and who we are individually. Finding a way to break away from society's expectations is one of the hardest things to for humans to accomplish. By breaking away from these norms we are able to experience love and wealth even when no one else agrees with the choices we make. The fish in the picture represents us as humans; frail, and sometimes incapable of ignoring our instinct to belong. The arrows represent judgment and assumptions passed upon individuals. The media has created a skin that is not easily achieved by most. The winding road represents the difficult journey of life in a society that is reluctant to accept people as they are.

This panel is brought to you by the letter "H"

My panel shows that being human is about experiencing negativity and imperfection as much as it is about happiness. The heart represents love, which can give great joy but cause great pain. Happiness and hatred are staples of humanity. Throughout the generations, each has had a major role in shaping history. The power of hope is represented by the sun. Even in the darkest times, people never lose the ability to hope, and that itself has given humans the strength to keep going.

To Think For Yourself, You Must Question Authority

To be human is to attempt to non-conform. The panel shows squares and a convex shape. The squares are variations of the original square. The other squares imitate the same shape but change colors to create a new pattern. The convex shape stands out due to its different shape, but conforms because it follows the color scheme and the symmetry. The conformity of the color scheme and symmetry demonstrates the inevitability of conformity. The change in shape proves that even though others around one may conform, that does not justify entire conformity.

The inspiration for the quilt came from Catcher in the Rye and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Catcher in the Rye contains a very powerful message against conformity. Whoever Holden calls phony, I call conformist. Holden considers Sally Hayes to be phony because she is doing things because everyone else around her is doing them, not because she enjoys them. The novel proves that conformity is inevitable because Holden conforms because his views are shared by others, creating another group with which Holden agrees. Also, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has a very moving scene where Huck decides to go help Jim escape from Aunt Sally’s cabin. He says that he does not care what society thinks about him, he’s going to help Jim. At that instant, Huck decides to not go along with the trend of classifying African-Americans as sub servile. Consequently, Huck is conforming with the abolitionists because he agrees with what they have to say.

The Dichotomy of Humanity

How can one truly answer the question "What it means to be human?" There is no possible way to fully answer the question, for being human is undefined. Therefore, in my portion of the paper quilt, I have attempted to offer an explanation to some of the characteristics that humans possess. Hopefully it is clear that it is divided in half, one side being more chaotic and abstract while the other is more geometric and orderly. From doing this project, I think that to be human is to possess an equality of both of these sides. Like the human brain, one side holds the vines of creativity, the part that lets our mind wander and be free, twisting and tangling in whichever way there is to grow. In contrast, the other half enables us to control and construct, bars our animal instincts, and organizes our vision. When the two sides are carefully balanced, that is when we find the answer to "What it means to be human?"

what a mess

I believe that one of humans most natural endeavors is the search for knowledge and understanding, which becomes a life-long journey in the immense chaos that surrounds us. We are conscious and our growth is colored with the experiences we have and the perspective that takes shape as a result, which is why I chose to use the colorful patterned materials that give more sensation than concrete images or ideas. The relationships that are formed also grow within us, creating other aspects of our character that are inherited throughout life, represented by the beads. I wanted the fragility of the materials and the frayed edges that bind them to represent those same qualities of being, where we are united in such insubstantial ways that we can only attempt to understand throughout our delicate life. I wanted the appearance to be very organic and also put together in an amateur fashion, because the essence of humanity is unfinished and flawed. Being human is being delicate and tough, bright and dark, orderly and confused, layered and bare; a complete mess that is only as substantial as can be felt and related.

I Think Therefore I Am

Humans are what they think they are. If a person is exposed to destruction all the time then he or she will think of it as being another human emotion or action. There are countless emotions in the world that can be associated with being human. Knowing which ones apply to us is what separates us from one another. The symbolism in my quilt is what I think it means to be human and may not apply to everybody. The Earth with people all round it holding hands is what I saw as unity. Humans should be united with one another, after all we are the same species. The evolutionary circle of primates to humans with the picture of a half human half primate being in the middle of the circle represents the change that humans have gone through to get to where they are now. It also means that we can still keep evolving and changing so that could be a good thing. The top right corner contains a war battle ground with an atomic cloud in the middle which represents destruction of life. Humans have destroyed many environments, species, and even other human life in order to survive. My favorite part of this quilt was the picture of the woman with an unborn baby which I thought symbolized human hope. With out hope we have no reason to be called humans. We are the only life forms on Earth that can perform this rare and special act.

Change and Acceptance of Change

To answer the question what it means to be human, I represented change by a theme of old Japan and modern Japan. though there aren't any images that signify old Japan, there is a traditional feeling in the flowers that are present throughout my panel. The modern Japan comes into play when I added the pictures of the gothic lolita trend that is popular in Tokyo which is a much more modern city than the rest of Japan. Finally, there is a butterfly that symbolizes the change.

My panel shows that being human means the never ending change that is experienced by everyone. Throughout history, new things are developed and new ideas are formed. Throughout the world, there are different cultures and different ways of doing things. Throughout our lives, we are growing and developing. Being human means that you accept theses differences in humans and these changes in our lives as inevitable.

A theme of change is prevalent in literature all the time. Some novelists choose to allow their character to go on a journey to experience a change or growth such as in Siddhartha, Huckleberry Finn and As I Lay Dying. All of the main characters in these books grow and change after going on a life changing journey. Though this is the most popular way for an author to show that their characters are changing, it isn't the only way. In King Lear, Lear changes because he learns about Goneril and Regan's betrayal. many novels use this theme because it is a part of human nature that many people can relate to.

Abstract thought and symbols

Our defining quality as humans is our ability to substitute real-world concepts for abstract rules and symbols, and make connections between these symbols that can be put to practical use. It is these higher reasoning skills that seperate us from other life forms, and enable us to form bodies of information in the form of math and science. This panel demonstrates symbolic thought in the form of a computer program; basic pieces of information are arranged in a way that is useful, and put to practical use through our ability to harness digital information. Given a set of rules and behaviors discovered through empirical methods of trial and error, our natural world can be better understood and manipulated, and to truly understand is to be human.

Thought and Empathy

My panel is about thought and empathy. Descartes declared “I think, therefore I am” and this is partially the answer to what it means to be human. However, I believe it is one step further than thinking. The most basic human phenomenon is empathy, the ability to place yourself in another one’s shoes. Some would argue that this is never truly possible, but man’s attempt to do so is still valiant. That is why for my panel I chose to show a human assuming the roles of the characters he reads in novels, depicting the very act we’ve done in literature class.

I'm befuddled

To be human means that one is unsure about their own identity within a society. They try to be true to their own sense of self and morality, but simultaneously try to fit in with other members of their culture and its view of right and wrong.
This is quite apparent in the novel Jane Eyre as she is by nature an independent and fiery individual, but must swallow her pride and be obedient to get by in the Victorian era. She is also terribly in love with Mr. Rochester, but she must bottle her feelings and act coldly towards him as she is only a governess and he a man of higher rank and wealth. Jane is simply not being true to herself and her feelings and is confused with her place and role in the world. Her situation of confusion makes her entirely human.

Obviously the stripes of puzzle ribbon represent confusion. The figure on the panel is left blank so anyone can be put in its place. The words "I do" ( which can not be seen due to glare) and "I don't" show people's indecision in how they should display their real feelings to others. People just simply need to tell others their views on things and act in a way they see as right.

Seeing the world from other people's point of view

My square stands for wanting people to travel the world and understand other people's cultures and traditions without criticism. If more people could understand how other people lived I believe there wouldn't be as much fighting, war, and famine. I believe it's all just a miscommunication between people, and if humans just learned to share and get along, the world would be a better place. I believe that the only way you can be human is to understand other humans and try to relate to them as much as possible. So everyone, try to travel as much as possible and experience new things because it could really broaden your horizons and give you new insight on what it means to be human.
By: Crystal Ramirez

To Love, and Be Loved.

Many characters througout the history of literature have different meaning and purposes. But what every character (human) has in common is the simple fact of feeling. To be compassionate for others and to recieve compassion, is what I believe it means to be human. Like Boo Radley and Quasimodo, people view them as "monsters" but what they have in common is that they showed signs of pure, good feelings. And in response, they recieved the same compassionate feeling back. Every human being needs to give and recieve some sort of compassionate feeling because that proves that they do have a heart. These characters help prove that comapassion and a feeling of worth helps them and society view them as being human.

Hi everyone

Hi, Tom here.
The posts all look great so far, but there is one problem;
No one has posted a brief explanation paragraph of their work, just the pictures are being uploaded. Explaining the reasoning behind your choice is vital to the project, and understanding the work of others. Could those who have already posted please edit there posts to include concise explanations, and those laying down new posts remember to include them also? Thanks.

The Search for Spirituality

I think that the search for spirituality is inherent in being human. There is something about religion, faith, and the desire for higher understanding that drives people. For thousands of years, man has endured that same struggle to find a higher purpose, and the resilience of this thirst for spirituality over such a long time is telling of the fundamental drive in every human. There are infinite paths to finding the spiritual self. Organized religion and religious doctrine often are the inspiration and solace for this spiritual journey. Individuals can also seek peace internally. The search for spirituality need not be found in religion, but can also be found through the pursuit of reason, philosophy, literature, and art. There is an instinct in all humans to be constantly searching for knowledge and spiritual fulfillment that is not found in any other species on earth.

To have imperfections

To be human is to have imperfections and to accept them with grace. Much of the time people are bombarded with opinions of what is perfect, articles and rules that tell people how to change themselves and create perfection based upon the beliefs of others. However I believe perfection is in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder that finds perfection is the one who loves every imperfection. An imperfection makes a person an individual, and also shapes the paths of human beings, such as a character flaw can change the entire outcome of a life or a story, but makes the character unique and special. It causes children and adults alike to make mistakes and learn to grow based on actions of the past.
The images that I chose to use in my project reflect this idea by showing the body of an older woman, who is still beautiful in her age, marked with stereotypical body “flaws” and how she should fix them. Behind her, the larger and younger face represents the common idea of model beauty, a thin face that is in the height of its youth, not yet marked by the lines of time and age. However, the older woman is still beautiful with her imperfections, her appearance is strong and marked with grace. The lettering on the side asks “Perfection?” to evoke thoughts of what is really and truly the meaning of the word, and if it is only skin deep.

Purpose

To be human is to have a purpose. Whether we are trying to find our purpose or have already found it; this is what makes a human. Without purpose humans are like animals who live everyday by our emotions. Up above are some examples of purpose but I think the most important purpose is to find our identity. I believe everyone in this earth has a purpose because without it we live for no reason and cannot be called a human.

In Siddhartha and The Bell Jar, the main characters are both seeking purpose in their lives. Siddhartha is a man seeking enlightenment; he goes around experiencing love, patience, and worldly desires. Esther in The Bell Jar goes around looking for her values and thoughts of the world. Like these characters, to be human is to have a purpose in life.

In Search Of'........

'You are not a human being in search of spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being immersed in human experience' Teilhard de Chardin.

What I think, it means to be human is to go through a myriad of emotions and feelings in order to reach your ultimate goal or in search of something greater, whether that be happiness (Right Symbol), enlightenment (Top Symbol), etc. The novel that inspired me to believe in this was Siddhartha, he was in search of a universal understanding of life, or Nirvana and he learned that enlightenment cannot be reached through teachers because it cannot be taught—enlightenment comes from within.

From the moment of birth every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering, however, Siddhartha knows that in order to achieve happiness you must go through all the emotions and feeling there are to experience. In the novel, Siddhartha goes through a lot of suffering and challenges in search of something greater, but he does not let it stop him. He has the strength to keep moving forward and not quit. All of this is represented in my panel. The Flower in the middle represents all the emotions and feeling that one can experience and that has to experience in order to reach that greater thing. This also means going through pain and suffering (Bottom Symbol) being able to have the strength (Left Symbol) to pull yourself together and never give up.

"To err is to be human..."

Every human in the history of time has made mistakes. Every human in the future will make mistakes. While I don't believe that only humans make mistakes [as Kaspar pointed out so readily, animals make mistakes too, i.e. crossing streets during rush hour and the like.], I believe that a big part of being human is making an ultimately flawed decision. Hence, I included Marie Antoinette on my panel. She spent her country's national treasury on expensive and lavish things while the vast majority of her country's population, the working people, were starving to death in poverty and despair. While it may have seemed like a good idea at the time, it was an ultimately flawed decision.... which her people made her pay for with her life. In the lower right hand corner, I included a quote of hers, "Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur. Je ne l'ai pas fait à l'exprès.". Coincidentally, it fit into my original quote; literally translated, it means, "Pardon me, Sir. I did not do it on purpose." It seems that on her way to her death, Marie tripped over her executioner's foot. These were her last words.

The background has ink spilt over it, to reinforce the concept of an accident. In the quote, I changed the word "err" to the word "air" simply because when I explained my panel to my best friend to ask her opinion, she asked me, "What does air have to do with forgiving? Wouldn't angels and humans need air?". [Also, by adding the wrong word, I myself would have "err"ed in the typing of the quote.] The golden wax angels in the corner by the quote serve not only as decoration, but reinforcement of the ideal that "...to forgive is divine."

What It Means To Be Human

In my opinion, to be human is to know that diversity is beautiful. For years, there has been racism all around the world, which has created fights, hate, and years of torture. Being human means knowing that the differences among people are what make the world so interesting. I feel that being aware of this is what makes one human. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Jim are different ages, and different colors, which some may disagree with because they believe that Jim is only a slave and that is all he will ever be. However, they remain true to one another and go on adventures together regardless of the morals and beliefs society has imposed on them. I believe that in order to be a human, one must see the beauty in those who look different, and may even act or think differently than they do. Doing this will create a better world, allow society to get along better, and can help one find his own set of morals: as Huck discovered through his journey with Jim.
This panel shows two hands; each a different color, representing the many different colors that people have. There is a flower blooming in between the overlapping hands, which shows the beauty found when diverse people come together and live in harmony. The beauty is also represented by the bright colors surrounding the hands and the flower. If someone is not surrounded with diversity, life will be colorless and dull. Allowing diversity to surround you will bring joy and happiness.

Love and Passion = Humanity:)

Humanity is filled with love and passion. That passion is what motivates us to act the way we do and create the world around us. Humans are the only creatures on earth capable of taking their complex feelings and emotions and applying them to action, art, science, and society. We forge ties with others based on this love. You cannot find the same bond between a mother and child or a couple deeply in love like the ones found in humanity. While we have the capacity to hate and perform acts of violence, it is our love and compassion that makes us uniquely human.

Compassion for others motivated Mother Theresa’s work in poverty stricken areas of India. This same compassion and the desire for equality was what pushed Martin Luther King Jr. to peacefully fight for civil rights, as it did for Mahatma Gandhi in India. Passion for art was what created works such as “Starry Night”, “Mona Lisa”, and The Eiffel Tower. Literature is created for the same reasons, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery were all written so beautifully and eloquently that they could not have been made in the absence of passion. Humanity celebrates life in its varying styles of art like the modern styles graffiti, hip hop, and filmmaking as well as the traditional classics. As seen in our celebrations that range from a wedding to Woodstock humanity creates and acts for the sake of love.

NO.....this is what it means to be human.

What is it that separates us from our intelligent relatives in the animal kingdom? Although humans and chimpanzees share about 95 percent genetic material, in this small percent exists literally a world of difference. It is our higher levels of thinking that make us such a unique speck in the enormity of the universe. Humans possess an infinite stream of characteristics that allow for the creation of arts, of abstract ideas, and the questioning of our existence in the universe. It is that "what if?" which sparked so many discoveries, allowing for the advancements from the primitive hunter-gatherer society to man conquering the elements of wind, earth, and fire.
I believe the sense of self is distinct from the recognition of self, and the former is that which humans possess and consequently marks us as humans. I tried incorporating this idea into my panel by using a mirror. Mirrors are superficial objects incapable of reflecting the true nature of a person. You must be able to look in the mirror and see beyond the physical features. You must see the tender spirit and soul as well as the fragile characteristics that make you, possessed by no one else.
Humans also possess the ability to hide emotion and deceit others, and the masks surrounding the mirror emphasize the capability of manipulation. For example, actors "manipulate" the audience to make the scene believable- if they don’t do so, the audience won’t buy it and would be dissatisfied. Acting is a vital part of theater, and theater is an art created by humans that demonstrates the extended range of human capacities. To manipulate emotion is what is truly human to me.

We are is..

Defining and portraying the fabric of our existence on a 7x7 inch square is quite a feat. However, through my panel I attempted to portray some of the basic aspects that I feel are key to being human. The main portion of the panel, is a slanted eye. Words create the boundaries of the eye, representing 1) that language helps to shape how we define reality and the world around us, and 2) the words I chose, I feel, are really a huge part of what being human is. The slanted tilt of the eye, symbolizes that all of us view the world through our own bias and slanted views. The varying shades of blue is the center of the eye, shows how that while we all are human, we are made of so many different and unique personalities and people, yet still being one species. The orange pupil, signifies the passion that fuels all human actions. Above the eye is the chinese symbol for indecision, because a part of being human is never being satsified and always searching for happiness. In this search, many of us face indecision of whether or not we are choosing the right path. Hence, the other Chinese symbol below the eye, stands for happiness. The black patterned background, I feel also reinforces the idea of being of one fabric yet being cut into so many varying shapes and sizes. The overlapping pieces serve to represent that life does not fit together perfectly like a puzzle, being human means being imperfect, and hence life is imperfect.



"I do not know what I am. I dont know if I am or not....I am is." - Cash, As I Lay Dying



I feel that this quote sums up what humanity is all about. A recurring theme across all of literature is searching for the meaning of life, within our own humanity. Great Expectations is a boy's search for happiness through material values, while Siddhartha goes the opposite route. In The Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye the two main characters are so discouraged with life and societal values that their lives become almost meaningless. Yet still they continue to search for happiness and answers. As humans, we are confined by our own brains and our mortality, we don't know why we are here, nor will we ever know. All we do know is that in the present We are is.

This is What it Means to be Human... Really It Is

I believe that to be human is the ability to express oneself emotionally. It is the ability to be able to cry together and laugh together through moments of sorrow and happiness. This can be shown in Siddhartha when Siddhartha expresses both sorrow and happiness within moments of each other. He grieves over the loss of Kamala but finds acceptance because he still realizes that he has his son. Another example of this is in The Bell Jar when Esther goes through a variety of emotions. These emotions are essentially what drives her behavior in the direction that it goes.
Emotions are the best way that one can express oneself. A facial expression can show dozens of emotions which portray the story of ones life.
If there is one thing that cannot be controlled or manipulated by the acts of others it is our emotions. Our emotions are probably one of the few things that we have sole control over. Emotions are also one of the few remaining qualities that have been with us since we first appeared on this planet. Our abilities to show anger or happiness will never go away, regardless of the advances that we may make in the future. It is because of this reason that I think that our emotions are what make us human.

Finding Infinite Beauty in the Smallest Things

One of the many meaning to what is is to be human is to find infinite beauty in the smallest things. One the abilities that we have as humans is not only finding beauty in man made materials that we can explain and that were made for our self improving purposes but to find beauty in the things that were not man made, the things we cannot explain. How is it that humans can now obtain the power of flight if it was not for that person who not only saw the flight of a bird but found infinite beauty in the flight of that bird? How is it that humans now can take beautiful pictures if it was not for that one person who not only saw something wonderful but found infinite beauty in that something that gave him the passion to preserve if forever in a picture? It is the power to find beauty in the impossible and turn it into the possible. It is the ability to take something so little such as a butterfly or a flower and find infinite beauty inside it, to have this sense of inspiration and know that it is not only not only a butterfly but something much more, something with a potential. It is to be internally drawn to something so that you want to create it into much something much bigger. Someone could see a flower and paint a picture of it and someone could hear the song of a bird and write a song based on it. Another gift that humans have is free will. Humans can choose what can inspire them or not. Even though it may be something small, to that person, they can see something much more grand and here is where infinite comes in. A person can see something and make it bigger and from that new creation, another may become inspired and create something greater and from that greater creation, someone else may become inspired and create something even bigger. It is a chain reaction and it never ends because people are inspired to make things bigger and better for the benefit of humanity and like nature, humanity itself is everchanging. One small thing can inspire a whole chain of new ideas and new things into infinity. A small seed will become a large tree which will sprout fruit which will drop more seeds and begin the cycle anew. It is the action of one idea spreading and evolving into many more. It is not just only looking at a rock or a seed and just seeing a rock or seed but finding infinite beauty in it. That is the way humanity has grown, learned, understood, and become much greater throughout time.

a choice and free will

In all the literature we have read this year, a common theme has been the choice to live as an individual. From Huck Finn to Siddhartha to Smith, these characters have chosen to live as they please and follow their own conscience no matter what society dictates. They realize that doing what they believe to be right is more important than aping societal norms. This definition and understanding of humanity extends far back in time, as even in the Judeo-Christian account of creation, Adam and Eve are granted the choice to follow God or do as they please. God surely knew that they would choose to disobey Him and so defile the world, but He gave them the gift of free will. Without the opportunity to choose our own path, we would be little more than puppets. For good or for ill, our ability to make our own decisions is an integral part of our humanity.

My square depicts Jane Eyre. I chose her as a representative of all the characters for her strong will, her intense awareness of and devotion to her conscience, and her progressive and determined sense of independence. She defies societal limitations on women, chooses to follow her conscience over both the influence of others and her own heart, and withstands emotional and physical trials with great strength and faith. She is an independent and powerful individual of conscience.

HOW TO BLOG

Once you get here, here is how you upload what you are supposed to do. A handout will be distributed during class.

1) After taking the picture of your patch, it will be saved, and sent to your GMail Account. CHECK YOUR EMAIL.
2) Download the attached picture and save it someplace on your computer
3) Go to http:// blogger.com and sign in with your username and password
4) Click “New Post” under the “What is Human” blog once you are signed in
5) Give your blog entry a title.
6) In the post editor, click the “add image” icon. It is between the “spell check” and “add video” icons, in the toolbar above the text editing window
7) Add the image from your computer; click the “browse” button and find the image you downloaded. Open it, and click “UPLOAD IMAGE”.
8) Write your explanation of your work
9) Click “PUBLISH POST” when you are done

WELCOME

Hello! Over the next few weeks this blog will attempt to answer the question: "What does it mean to be human?" Mrs. Thompson's AP English class will author the blog, each post being a patch of a paper quilt accompanied with a concise explanation. The site will be continually updated as more patches and other media become available. Readers and authors are encouraged to keep an eye out for links in the right column, as they may be informative/cool. The picture of the girl with the bowl of flowers to the right, in case you forgot, is Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, an oil painting inspired by this poem by Robert Herrick, and the cover of our lovely literature text. I look forward to the coming posts and hope you won't hesitate to e-mail me, Tom, at toooooooooom@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.