Daring to be Fully Human

Sensing that we needed to focus on exploring the nature and workings of some antidotes to violence, we decided to present writings on the theme ?Claiming Our Humanity.? But what does the phrase ?claiming our humanity? mean? In a broad sense, the concept has to do with one?s acting authentically in one?s attempts to be fully human. Living thus ? authentically in the service of being fully human ? we could attain a deep understanding and awareness of ourselves and others that would support our ongoing efforts to live responsible, engaged, nonviolent lives. We could enter that space, that ?realm of time,? as Rabbi [Abraham Joshua Heschel] writes, where we would privilege being over having; where we would rather give than own; where we would want to share rather than to control; and where we would set as our goal to be in accord with others rather than to subdue them. Claiming our humanity, then, has to do with human relations; it is not a solitary act, insofar as one can claim one?s humanity only in the context of one?s engagements with others. Though they focus on a wide range of topics, all of the articles in this issue of Paths address this understanding in one way or another. In his discussion of the disempowerment of Puerto Ricans (specifically by means of educational agendas) at the hands of the US government, René Antrop-González, for example, enables us to see that the disastrous, unjust practice of colonial subjugation is grounded in the dualistic principle that some humans are to be accorded more value than other humans ? or, to use Rabbi Heschel?s language, that such an unjust practice results from a goal to subdue and control rather than from a goal to be in accord and to share. To claim one?s humanity in such a circumstance is to claim one?s authenticity as a valuable and valued being and, at the same time, to ennoble otherwise ignoble human relationships.