We Are Not Monolithic Structures.

We Are Not Monolithic Structures

John Paul Derryberry

One of life's most amazing things is the art sculptor's ability to create beauty out of a single piece of stone. It's such a monolithic structure, with no additions, no extra needed material, just the artist, thier tools, and their imagination. They turn one stone into something beautiful. I do not possess this skill. I'm always dumbfounded about how they accomplish the goal or get what is in their head into that single piece of stone. It's the beauty of human imagination on display.

Yet, there isn't a single human that is monolithic in their thinking, actions, and values. Instead, we are complex, complicated creatures, shaped by numerous small events in our lives, a couple of significant events, our friends, and our families. Where we grew up, social and economic status, race, gender, sexuality, and our family's faith or lack thereof, play a massive part in how we digest the world. Yet, over the past election cycle and increasingly throughout culture, we have been inundated with this idea that we have to be all or nothing on issues, actions, and values.

Scroll through social media and see videos where you can't be a Democrat and a Christian. You can't suppport life and be pro-choice. News stories about how more and more people vote just straight ticket, like a person from another party could never appeal to you. Somewhere along the way, even though we have more daily choices than ever, we have decided people should be monolithic creatures. Believe or do one thing no matter the new information we get; becoming unflexible to changing our minds and hearts to a different choice. Too many wear it as a badge of honor to say, I have not changed.

It's scary to think who I would be now, if 17-year-old John didn't meet the group of international students at my first college. Or, if I hadn't befriended my first LGBTQ group member or listened to my black friends talk about the racism they experienced. It's not some badge of honor to have the same beliefs you had at 17, 25, 31, 40. It's a sign that you have not allowed the human experience to affect you in a way to move you to a new way of thinking. We are not monolithic creatures, and the notion that we should be is insulting.

What makes that single stone become beautiful art isn't the stone. Instead, it's the artist's wild imagination of what the stone could be if it had no bounds. Humans can change our ways, become better, alter our views, and understand an enemy. We can make that enemy a valued, trusted friend whom we shed tears over when their life ends. I know some morals cannot and should not change in us. But becoming an unsculpted piece of stone leaves out so much beauty in the world. We are not monolithic creatures, nor were we meant to be. Allow life's interactions to shape you into the best version of yourself, and remain flexible enough for improvement but stout enough to withstand the storms of life. In that sweet post, we find beauty. We find the best in humanity.