Chris Abani tells stories of people: People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.
http://www.ted.com/chris_abani
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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What Chris Abani preaches is something that should be worldwide, but is seldom noticed. It’s ironic that scientists say that what makes us different from other animals is the compassion, the sympathy that we have for each other—our humanity. Why is it then that it’s the one thing we lack? I think that a huge chunk of our humanity is reflected on our ability to love one another without limitations. Why is love considered to be something so sacred, and held on a pedestal for just a few select people to enjoy? Why can’t I love every person I meet for different aspects of their personality? I love each of my friends for something different that they have taught me—whether I have known them for 15 minutes, or 15 years. Instead of selfishly withholding love away from the world, maybe it is anger that we need to use for a few select reasons. Chris Abani gives a perfect example of the lack of love we have for one another when he recounts his story of John James and his experience on death row. This boy had enough love, or at least enough humanity to teach other prisoners how to read, despite his grim situation. No person was “less human” than any other…therefore, no one was “less deserving” than any other. Likewise, the love of his mother was what saved them—not her anger at military officials that betrayed her country, but the love she had for her children.
Chris Abani’s speech was very moving; I felt many emotions while I was watching it. It was funny at some moments, but sad at other moments. I felt like tears were going to roll down my cheeks when Abani started talking about his friend from prison, John James. Perhaps it was the slight pause at the end of that story, after he told us how John James was tortured and killed, that really made me understand how he was feeling. It’s so sad how people live amongst each other- with such hatred and violence. It’s sad when I walk out onto my block after 10 pm that I have to feel scared and look over my shoulder that no one is following me. It’s sad when I take a cab and I hold my phone in my hand just in case the driver takes a “wrong” turn. Maybe it sounds crazy but it’s true. Because of the way humanity is, it’s hard for us to trust one another. Yet there are many nice people who will go to great lengths for you. A family friend of ours who is married and has 2 young kids would give any amount of money to his friends if they needed it. He is not rich but because of his kindness and appreciation for his friends, he would go to great lengths to help them. The first time I heard my parents talk about how compassionate he is, it made me happy. Sometimes I wonder what it is about our human nature that makes some people act the way they do. Why do some people try to ruin others? But why do some people rather protect you than to ruin you? It’s important for people to treat others the way they would want to be treated. I don’t think that the people who killed John James, whether it was those men who actually killed him or those who put him in jail, would have wanted to be treated the way James was. So why did they do it? Were they afraid not to do it?
I agree with Ivana that Chris’ story was moving. It is always good to hear what other people have gone through because it should be a reminder for us to count our blessings. Many of us because we have life easier or maybe not easier but didn’t go through such tribulation think that everyone else’s life is just as easy. Those of us who have gone through hardships in our life think that we are the only ones who have had it hard. But I reminded everyday that it doesn’t matter how difficult you think your life is there is always someone who has it worse than. There’s always a family that has to go to bed hungry or a child who has to share his/her bed with five other siblings. Many of us get a lot of gifts at Christmas time or for our birthday. But there are numerous children out there who have never received a gift. We should also be thankful that we can live in a country where there is freedom of speech. He was on death row three times for fiction story. I was also moved because of the fact that his mother was a very strong woman but cried when she received gifts from a stranger.
Kayla Staple
4:10 pm
My first thought during the video was how amazingly some people gain strength after traumatic events. Instead of hating society, Chris forgave and shared his stories with others. I believe that there are somethings about a persons personality that can be altered after certain events (whether positively or negatively). I believe that certain people are 'evil' and 'cold hearted' because they are insecure and would rather benefit themselves in every aspect then help someone in need. And lastly, I believe that the most giving people are the ones that give when nobodys watching such as the lady at the airport. The lady didn't HAVE to give clothing to them. Nobody would have said anything if she didn't but she did because of sympathy and kindness which many people on this earth lack due to society and selfishness. A lot of times its hard to be grateful for everything. There's that saying "be grateful for what you have because many people wish they could have half as much as what you got", but then many of us tend to sympathize ourselves instead and wonder how many people have more then us and how things aren't fair. I believe this leads to depression and always feeling like 'you want more', (in other terms, GREED.) I believe that happiness does not come from materialistic things but instead (like Chris mentioned) the simplest acts of kindness can really shine through. I enjoyed Chris speech because it gave a sense of humor but also a sense of seriousness which showed us that he still remembers what had happened but hes learned to accept it.
The first thought that came to my mind while watching this video was "wow". How can a man that has seen so much SH*t in his life and gone through much devastation still be happy and grateful with the world? I admire people like Chris Abani. People like him aren't seen in everyday life. Usually, people that go through what he went through end up going mad and just depressed. He is very brave from what I seen. All the stories he said from the funny ones to the sad ones, I believe had an impact on everyone who watched it. Every story had a lesson to be learned. Watching and listening to Chris Abani preach gave me chills, made me think about stuff more and helped me be grateful for the life I'm living because they're people who live it worst than one does. I believe in this life one should give thanks to God for the good and the bad that comes because out of everything that occurs there is always a reason behind it for why it happened.
The first thought that came to my mind while watching this video was "wow". How can a man that has seen so much SH*t in his life and gone through much devastation still be happy and grateful with the world? I admire people like Chris Abani. People like him aren't seen in everyday life. Usually, people that go through what he went through end up going mad and just depressed. He is very brave from what I seen. All the stories he said from the funny ones to the sad ones, I believe had an impact on everyone who watched it. Every story had a lesson to be learned. Watching and listening to Chris Abani preach gave me chills, made me think about stuff more and helped me be grateful for the life I'm living because they're people who live it worst than one does. I believe in this life one should give thanks to God for the good and the bad that comes because out of everything that occurs there is always a reason behind it for why it happened.
Gabrijela Peic
Ubuntu," Chris Albani says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.” It seems as if people forgot what means to be human. Especially in this extremely busy and competitive city. People use phrase: “I am so busy” every time when they do not want to be badger. The most shocking thing is that even when people hear or see touching stories, such this one from Chris ALbani, they feel bad and sorry, but after just five minutes the most people will not remembered it anymore. They will be too busy with their lives. I believe people lost sense of humanity because they lost sense of ubuntu. People tend to talk and listen very little or not at all.
I like the fact that Albani showed the world that there are some people with terrifying stories such his and that he is able to take from the worst time some positive moments to keep his memories on his childhood alive. He is a different person now, much more experienced and his has a different lifestyle, but still remembers who he is and where he is coming from.
From his speech, Albani did not make us feel sorry for him, but to remind us with a touch of laugh how happy we are. When he was talking about the situation on the airport and when a stranger gave his mom clothes from her suitcase, I asked my self, how many people would really do that?! How many people would really take out clothes from their suitcases and gave them to a stranger? Are we getting too greedy to realize what is going on around us?
I believe that what Abani said was very spiritual and real. Everything he said made perfect sense. Though he made many jokes they really cancel out from what he actually said. I could not really compare myself to what he has been through. I believe God has created the only living one status for a reason. Everyone does bad in their life it just depends on how it has influenced your life. Language influences our everyday life. The way we live and think is influenced by how we speak to people and how they respond back. I think that Abani had a lesson to be learned. That lesson is that you cannot control your fate but from one change in your life, it could change how you are seen and whether or not your fate is determined earlier than expected.
Ira Turdiu XZ24C
While watching Chris Abani's preaches i had a mish mash within my thoughts and feelings. As I understand from the comments, my classmates had same affect: pain for those whom Abani speaks about, hate for what and who caused it, compassion as well as appreciation for him and his mother. In addition to that, putting a sense of humor while telling the stories adapted the speech to the audience. If he didn’t do so, the speech would have been compelling and drastic.
Going more in depth to the stories, the one with Abani’s friend in prison reminded me of the Big Brother concept in the book “1984” by George Orwell. The Big Brother is a system in which the Government spies every move of the citizens putting pressure in their lives and torturing those who don’t oblige. I would like to emphasize from the book only the fact that it is people who are being tortured on one group and on another group it is people again who apply the torture upon the first ones. Since we are all biologically the same what is the outside element that creates these two groups and interferes in ruining humanity? Is it power? I wish I had an answer!
The book is also a movie and the trailer might give you a hint of what I want to underline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
4:10
“We’re never more beautiful than when we’re most ugly..that’s the moment we know what we’re really made of.” Stated by Chris Abani. Listening to the words of Chris Abani brought tears to my eyes. I think about humanity everyday of my life. I wish that I was always able to give someone money or something to eat every time I see someone begging for money on the streets. It hurts me to see these people suffer knowing that when I get home I’ll have a warm bed to sleep in and warm food to eat. Not only that, but I wish I could walk the streets without hearing racial slurs or someone attacking another person, and acting inhuman like. What kind of world are we living in?
Ubuntu- “There is no way for us to be human without other people.” @ Ivana: I agree with Ivana when she says that, its really sad that we have to be fearful of the people around us, a lot of what Ivana said, about holding your phone tight or holding your bag tight is true, its so hard to trust one another. I have a tendency to hold my trust against people for a long period of time, I give a lot of thought into trusting people and one of the reasons I have anxiety and worry all the time is because of mistrust in inhumane people. I’m still waiting for the day everyone works toward being more human and I know it can happen if we work on it together.
~Nuzzy~
In the beginning of the video, Chris made this quote that stood out to me. Chris Abani said "there is no way for us to be human with out others." I kept trying to find clues to support this quote. Chris tells us his stories where in every plot, someone always helps each other to carry on. Without the help of others through generosity or even business-wise help, it takes more than one. Most people would expect an equal value in return when a item of either value or time is given. People in this materialistic world do not offer out of generosity anymore. It is all out of self-interest. I agree with everyones comments about Chris Abani's preaches. His speeches gives me a different perspective of what i normally do not see. The sad thing is, if i was offered to watch his video by a friend, on my own time, I probably wouldn't have watched it. I am glad that it was shown in class, I enjoyed it.
Watching Chris Abani's speech in class, i felt that it was one of the most interesting and moving speeches i've ever seen. Although Abani's speech giving skills were not on par with Barack Obama, who manages to draw the attention of every person in the room, Abani manages to use speech techniques to draw the entire audience in to his story, by switching from amusing anidotes to heart-wrenching life lessons in a space of a heartbeat. It's always a very unique experience when you listen to a speech made by someone who has clearly done things and gone places in his life, that most of us wish we had the courage to do.
CLAUMERY CABRERA
The 18 minutes that I spent watching the video didn't really open up my eyes to the situation on humanity but it made me see how close to reality we really are and how it stairs us down in the face and we neglect the fact that its there and its as vivid and alive as we are. I felt the impact when in video and in our class room when the "bomb" dropped on how John James got executed. It was breathless but yet that is just one case. What about the other millions of cases that is just as heinous as these. We refer to other countries as third world all the time that to us it seems like we are light years ahead of everyone else. But I think that we fail to see the point. We are all consumed into our individual lives that that we fail to use our sociological imagination and that is the bock. If we actually took the time to place ourselves in the shoes of the people who are being tortured, miss treated, mal nourished and Homeless Without a dime in this world. If we all did that then we will try and do something about it and try to stop it. Sometimes people seem to care more about being or having better things than their next door neighbor and in some sense the more we decide to care about those things, the less human we become and the more consumed we become within ourselves. Sometimes people wait until the last minute of their lives to change their views and that's fine but in their last breath they wish that they would have done something different and try to solve the problem.
“People standing up to soldiers. People being compassionate. People being human and reclaiming their humanity. It's "ubuntu," he says: the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity back at me”
I personally loved this talk. After watching it I was even more inspired by Ubuntu. I first learned the word and its meanings by using Ubuntu Linux - Just being complete, helpful, and humbly as human as we know how.
This was an inspiring, if not humbling, talk. It's hard not to find yourself laughing one moment and almost in tears the next. Chris Abani emphasizes on what it is that makes us human, succeeding in showing our capacity to make the world better as well as our ability to throw it into darkness.
4:10 PM
Chris Abani said, “There is no way for us to be human without others.” It is true because present society is made by combination of every person and each person affects others by their ways. When every member in society works for each other, the society is working. In order to maintain society we should keep in mind the humanity and correlations. We need to contain belief and compensation to others. Humanity is the quality of being kind, thoughtful, and sympathetic towards others and a person’s humanity is their state of being a human being, rather than an animal or an object. In his story, there were stories to bring our attention in humanity.
Ubunta, there is no way for us to be human without other people, is similar concept with humanity. It is important to communication with other human for being human. That’s way we have had social activity in society such as, school, work, or house. The person who lives out of the society is human as a biologically but he is not a human as a sociologically.
In his friend’s story we could watch the process of ruining humanity. I was thinking about trust and belief. The conclusion is first I give trust to others and then expect other behaviors.
i think chris abani is the man. he is very realistic. we never hear about these types of stories because we are here living in the city and when we hear stories like this it really gets to us. hes been through a lot in his life and im pretty happy we have guys like him to talk about it. he was a great speaker as well and someone said. he would bring in humor then he would just switch to being serious again and the whole room go silent. it was amazing how he had control over the room. i think hes a strong guy too because of all he went through im surprised he didnt come out mental or something.
Chris Abani is a very brave person to go up on stage and speak of the horrors he and his friends have suffered. Many people wouldn't leave their room after such an ordeal. He is an inspiration to many people and i was inspired by his story. His use of humor then morbid images worked very well. He would start with a funny joke and then crash the audience back into reality. I see it as a metaphor for how life in the US is. Its nice and whatnot but if/or when you leave you go to a different society and they might not be happy about your presence. There you will crash into reality where not everybody loves each other and what you thought was fun, or funny, isn't anymore. You hear of these stories in school, on national geographic, but never in the news. Its a travesty that this is going on, maybe because we all still live in our fun manifestation of life, but out of these doors lies unknown, and possibly dangerous territory. Chris Abani showed this all in the 8 minute speech he had. It might never be shown to everybody in the media, but its a start.
Language mirrors reality in many ways. Chris Albani recreates aspects of his life that show his humanity as well as others'. Through the use of languange one could emotionally depict one's experiences. By story-telling Albani shows the audience different elements of humanity. His story about the woman that gave up her clothes and her children's toys shows a side that is essiential for life. Understanding that you should appriciate what you have but also take into considersation how lucky you are to have it is important. In this realization giving to those that have less than you shows a side that should be a part of everyones humanity. There are different ways to describe humanity, and culture has a lot to do with it. Overall language is the strongest tool one has in a lifetime. It allows you to express feeling as well as share experience. It's all a part of life.
This video was very touching and inspiring. He spoke with compassion and was very interesting to listen to. His story reveals that there are very different people in the world ranging from loving to cruel. You can tell that Chris Abani is a gentle person when he said he could not harm the goat in his story. It was touching when the people at the airport station gave Abani their clothing and toys and when his uncle told him to take whatever he wanted from the suitcase. This shows that some people are very willing to give up belongings to help others, even to strangers. When Abani revealed about what happened to his friend from prison it was a very shocking moment. You can hear the silence of the audience as he spoke those vivid words. The torture of the young man just blows your mind of how cruel mankind can be. While some people are cruel to the bone, others are very loving and caring. For example, during a crisis like Katrina people come together and donate and give whatever they can to help victims. However, some people may take advantage of the crisis and drive up supply costs but that is the outcome of economics. The stories made me think about my own life. There will be people far worse off then myself but there are people who are always willing to help out so make the best of what you have.
Jou-Man Huang
Every time I listen to an inspiring speech like this, it always makes me reflect on my own life and what potential I have to make a difference in this world. Very often I forget that the world is a much bigger place than my family, my friends, my work, or my school. I get so tangled up in little things that make me frustrated and disappointed, or I get so stressed out about many kinds of decisions I have to make that I start to loose patience. I have the illusion that I have only have time for myself, or else I won’t succeed. When I heard Chris Abani said, “the only way for me to be human is for you to reflect my humanity on me” I didn’t understand what he means. First of all, what is the “humanity” that is being given and received? It is something that we need to stop and think for a minute to understand.
it is amazing how Chris Abani is able to talk about all the things that he has seen. Its very hard to talk in front of a crowd but its amazing how specific events gives one the the ability to talk without fear. I thinks he's a wonderful speaker. Its a great skill to be able to joke about a traumatic event and still have an impact on the listener. it felt as you where actually there with him experiencing what he experienced.
I was amazed how the lady at the airport gave all the toys to him after hearing their story. so much has happened yet the mother didn't cry till that moment is because one is able to feel what their going through. people always think of them selves and try to do whats best for them. The young boy didn't know what was about to happen to him. He didn't deserve what happened to him after he had also taught the other people in prison how to read. After all his best quote was when he said "here is no way for us to be human with out others.". I loved this quote and it has so much to say and is very true.
I think the video was really interesting because Chris Abani talked about very important topics about humans. Even though humans have many great qualities, there are some other characteristics that are just so terrible that would make anyone from another planet be disgusted by us. Some of the good and bad qualities about humans that Abani’s stories implied were: compassionate, caring, funny, violent, brutal, and ignorant among others.
Even though all the life stories that Chris Abani said were very interesting, the ones that touched me the most were the ones about the stranger helping Abani’s mom; and about John James. I agree with Abani’s mom about how sometimes one gets so used to going through hardships that one stands brave to it and don’t even cry, while one mere act of “kindness by a complete stranger” would make one melt down.
On the other hand, the story about the 14 year old, John James was so touching that I felt like crying. Every time I hear such horrible narratives, I just can’t understand how cruel we can be to one another. How can a human being kill so brutally a 14 year old boy? What makes us do these things without having any remorse? These and other questions about the cruelty of humans are questions that I ask to myself every time I hear such cruel stories.
I totally agree with edlin that "a huge chunk of our humanity is reflected on our ability to love one another". "Love" can be said as the highest level of morality that men try to achieve. However, today's society has shaped our thought and creates isolations between people. For instance, in most of the countries of the world, students are taught to be aware when dealing with strangers. This separates the connection of people relationship which is contradictory to humanity as it lowers the "ability to love one another". I think it is so ironic and sad that the way that we having been taught and the things that we have been doing is actually toward the opposite side of humanity.
Chris Abani's speech is very impressive. He talked about the things when you want to cry while you are listening to them. However, he was talking about it with some kind of irony, so he forced audience not to cry, but to to think philosophically.
As I understood his cenral idea was that you can not be human without other people, and he supported this idea by providing a lot of examples from his own life. He convinced me that the way I treat other people they treat me the same in return.
Every word that I heard in this presentation was as vivid as it can get. The amount of pain and suffering that a man can go through is only so limited, but Chris Abani just proved my belief wrong. I always had it in my head that people suffered because of other people and that their are so many out their less fortunate than us, but to have someone open up their past and allow others to witness what it is that he went through, was probably the most inspiring attribute of this video. I do not have the vocabulary to explain the thoughts that are running through my head but all I do know is it showed reality in a variety of perspectives for me and now had caused my to come up with innumerable amounts of questions and notions. I would personally like meet Chris Abani and thank him for this experience that he shared and allowed all to view.
Chris Abani and the stories of his mother were very moving. Although it was just words it was very moving, this shows that language is a powerful part of everyone. I was moved and inspired when he told the viewers that he had escaped death row more than once and had to witness the deaths of his prison inmates/ friends. However, I was also shocked by the graphic descriptions of how his friend was forced to bleed to death on a chair. Also, how they arrested a child for smuggling in a comic book; who later taught everyone how to read it. This kind of reminded me of how slaves use to steal or hide books and teach others how to read. I was also deeply touched by his story of his mother. How strong and courageous she was against soldiers ready to take her children away. I now truly understand the phrase; “a mother will do anything to protect her children”. She shows courage that you don’t see every day, especially not in places like the city. I showed this video to my cousin and she was so touched by the video she started to cry. I really enjoyed this video because it gave laughter, inspiration, and emotion through language.
I think that if anyone besides Chris Albani had shared his life story, it wouldn’t have been able to shock and move me. The way he incorporated a foreign ideal like “ubuntu” and made it relateable to people who had never heard of it before. Ubuntu is how someone’s humanity is reflected back onto themselves by others. It makes you think about how without other people to learn from, whether in school or daily lives, you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be human.
The one story that pulled at my heart strings was about the young boy that tried to help his inmates on death row learn how to read. He was innocent child in a situation that no boy should never be put through, and yet he still managed to put aside his fears and help other people. What he did seems small, but it must have had a huge impact on the people he was affecting. It’s so horribly sad that the boy was killed. Its not fair that such a sweet and innocent person had his life taken away. I think Albani told this story to compare and contrast the good and the bad of the world. He wanted to show that everyone is capable of kindness, and evil, at least in my opinion.
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