What does it mean to be human?

We humans are interesting creatures. We awake at preset times to start our day then hit the snooze five times. We resolve to better ourselves at the turn of a new year and a few weeks later revert to our old habits. We make mistakes, bounce back, and make them again; we choose to make them again. We are choosers, we are thinkers, and we are makers.

Humans have something that other creatures on this planet don't have: the power of choice. Animals may act and react instinctively to the stimuli around them, but humans have the power to say "yes" and/or "no". For example, a dog hears treats being poured; he reacts and runs into the kitchen, knocking over everything in his wake. Animals live by the feelings and hormones that their bodies' release. Humans act humane or at least they should. Kids will scream because they just feel like it. Road ragers will make obscene gestures to their fellow man. People will gorge themselves to obesity. This is the behavior of animals and partaking in it makes us less human. Humans keep their cool, make changes, overcome odds, resist temptation, and they live life to the fullest, not through feelings or hormones but through the grand gift of choice.

The air is thick with ideas in this world. Tv's are blaring advertisements, people are cackling in the streets, and all these ideas are flying at our heads for us to choose. Animals don't receive these ideas at all; their bodies just react the way they were built. Once a human has chosen some ideas, a message of hope or a pile of gossip, they begin to think on the subject; they nurture the thought, water it, fertilize it, and help it grow. Some ideas are like weeds: they demand attention, drain the life out of the ground, and they are tough to get rid of. Others ideas are good, fruitful, and will ultimately better one's mind. We can take ideas and grow them into huge elms that give birth to other ideas. It up to the humans what thoughts they let grow.

After fertilizing these ideas we free them from our heads and act on them. We say hello to that one person, we open the bag of chips, we scream, and laugh and cry. This is where ideas get their greatest workout: in our daily lives. We humans take action, we create with ideas, we make art, etc. We don't have to simply react to the world around us and snap at drivers or eat a burger, we can choose what to do. We can choose to look at something and not take it as it is but take it as it could be. Humans can make a change in the world and in themselves. Animals just exist on earth; they eat, sleep, puke, eat, run around, then sleep some more. We humans can actually live our lives.

Being a human can be tough sometimes with the choosing, thinking, and the living, but it is great. The fact that we can have the free will to go about and live anyway fashionable in our mind is wonderful. We can choose to listen to the garbage or listen to the positive. We can conspire against our coworkers or learn to live with them. We can create masterpieces or doodle on a napkin; we can live our lives to fullest or the least: it is up to us.