Hello everyone welcome to ART IS podcast, this is Boris, cartoonist, teacher and podcaster, you can follow me on instagram @comicxbyboris to enjoy my original comic strips which i’ll be posting on a daily basis.
I was thinking about goodness. You know, how to be a good human being. You might have heard a lot of people say that things like religion, culture, national identity, to name a few, put barriers between us. But if we remove all that, what I would call the layers of programming, what will there be left of humans?
It might sound scary but for some reason I am hopeful that humans will be able to cohabit. Also, I tend to dream about some sort of minimum level of virtue that we all should have in us.
You have probably thought about it too. Have you ever asked yourself, why can’t everyone have the same standards as me when it comes to acceptance and tolerance?
On the surface level it seems that global standards can solve all the problems but you have to consider the point that by within the intent of imposing a global standard lay the traces of a possible tyrannical.system. We have the LAW, but even the laws are constantly being debated.
The push and pull, the flexibility and most importantly diversity of ideas were and are important for civilized society. We have to accept to sit and have relationships with people whose opinions differ from yours.
Why? Well because we live together and most problems you might face were created by individuals , groups of individuals, systems, organizations and so on, and we need each other to overcome our own mistakes and due to the complexity we need a diverse number of perspectives to get a better grasp of what is in front of us.
We might never figure out the right configuration but that tuning, that dance we do, is crucial.
I have read a quote from Dave Chappelle, my favorite stand up comedian of all time which delivers this idea in spades:
The thing is, you will disagree with people you care about and that shouldn’t make you dislike them. And people with whom you disagree with, are not your enemies by default.
I am guilty of this myself but we all want what “ha ha !” revelation moment where you paralyse the person you are discussing with and make them realize something that is more in line with your own line of thinking. I believe the outcome of a productive discussion, should come from a willingness to figure things out together like a win-win relationship.
Ultimately I believe that every feeling you feel, good or bad, has a place in this universe, the courage is to be able to reflect on them, process them and of course if these feelings are causing you some discomfort, maybe even suffering, you have to talk.
Talk with your friends, your neighbors, your parents, your partners, your teachers, your mentors, etc.
I believe we are all connected. From a romantic perspective, as my hero author Grant Morrison says: a single cell split to give birth to humanity. I somehow feel THAT single cell is in each and every one of us.
Also think about the moments when you connected with a fictional.character in a book or movie and cried when the character cried.
Maybe sometimes you have said something hurtful to your partner and seeing their face wither into sadness, made you feel it too (which is why face to face communication is important right?).
All this to say, when you hate somebody, ask yourself if you really hate that person or maybe you hate the part of yourself that likes that person. They’ve done something wrong and it scares you that you might be able to do the same one day.
So don’t be scared to take some time to think, if you don’t have people to talk to at that particular moment, write or record a podcast because that’s what I’m doing.
Bonne journée.
SKETCHMAN BORIS 