Editorial | Deputy Editor | Issue 6, 2015

My Belief in HumanityIssue 6, 17/11/2015, Zoe CashmanThis week I received an email from one of my lecturers from last year, stating that he really enjoyed my editorial on fear in the last issue and that he feels “it should be on the required reading list for all students and lecturers”. Drawing attention on what I mentioned in the last issue, I have many fears about writing despite it being my career goal, and to have someone go out of their way to tell me they enjoy it is truly touching.That being said, I want to discuss humanity. Events over the weekend have led many people around the world to question humanity right now. The world is shaken by what has occurred and again it is truly touching to see the nations standing together in these dark times and in times of fear.Last week was mental health week and again drawing on my own experiences I met an old friend while out and we talked about secondary school experiences. When we talked about how introverted and different I was she proceeded to mention a conversation she had with her mother in which they talked about the person I am today and said “there’s no stopping that girl now”. Again this was truly touching to me, as for many years of my life I was truly afraid to put myself out there and be true to myself, and for someone to go out of their way to tell me they are proud of what I have achieved makes me have faith in people’s compassion.How I want to relate this to the wider public is that, the events over the weekend have truly shocked me, but events during the week beforehand made me believe in the good will of people and their ability to be compassionate and genuinely kind towards others. Yes there are people who do awful and shocking things in this world, but it is through our following actions and in our compassion that we will all come to believe in humanity again. My message is, if you like the way someone writes, if you like someone’s jacket on a particular day, if you feel like you’ve seen someone truly change for the better in front of your eyes, tell them. There will always be tragedy and difficult times in this world, maybe by doing these little things you will help us all to once again believe in humanity.