Conversation starter: What does it mean to be human?

When I came across this sidewalk graffiti I couldn’t help but wonder why a fellow human being would feel compelled to spray the word human onto concrete. That and why that fellow human being switched colors from green to blue.

Human beings have been around for a few million years and it is probably fair to say that we have come a long way. We have expanded and refined the modest tools, language, and culture we started out with into the world we know today. A world which fascinates and mesmerizes with both awe and alarm. A world which does a really good job at smothering the stirring of this simple and yet unbearably problematic question.

On behalf of the anonymous graffiti artist, I invite you to set your imagination loose on this conundrum from time to time. It is sobering and fascinating and very worthwhile.