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4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS OPTIMISM Being a nice human: a recipe in development Greetings, dear reader! I start this article with a simple prayer: may love, serenity, peace, laughter, joy, happiness and financial stability be your constant companions in abundance, now and forever. Amen. A polite gentleman on the number 4 Ann Arbor Transportation Authority bus, wearing a shirt with the following sentence on it, “Be a nice human,” inspired me to write this article. I thank him, wherever he may be in life. While I am still working on figuring out what exactly makes us humans and what we are as humans, other than the fact that we are a collection of carbon-based cellular systems functioning on electricity, I have come to prize and appreciate the collective thought of the power of human goodness. Sometimes, when I feel down and gloomy, I open up YouTube and start watching videos with titles like “Faith in Humanity” and “Power of Goodness.” They always make me smile. So, I thought I would delve deeper into what it is that makes a good human. Below are some of the common recipes that are freely and readily available in the cupboards of our souls and shelves of our hearts. If mixed together in the right amounts at the right times, they can produce a very wholesome and deliciously good human. Feel free to mix these ingredients in the right amounts that may please and appease your palate. Ingredients: Kindness: Being considerate, generous and understanding of others, advancing benevolence to our fellow beings, comforting them in times of need, sharing a meal, sharing a nice meme or a funny picture, sharing a song, opening or holding a door, consoling and comforting. It just feels good. Kindness is readily available within you and is not expensive at all. It is an ingredient that never runs out. On the contrary, the more you distribute it, the more it self-replenishes. Be kind. Empathy: A good friend of mine trademarked the following sentence, “Sympathy devours, empathy empowers.” This is true. Being empathetic means putting your soul and being in your fellow human’s shoes or state of being and feeling what he or she is going through. In doing so, you realize what he is suffering from or persevering against, and you are better able to help him. Empathy almost always leads to understanding and to solutions that can resolve problems on an individual, societal or global scale. From fighting depression to hunger and disease, don’t be afraid to sprinkle on a generous amount of empathy. It also doesn’t run out and is readily available and self-replenishing. It MOHAMMED AL MUSTAPHA Groundcover contributor makes you a better human as it gives you the opportunity to feel others’ pain, and it might help you avoid the same predicaments. Respect: Respect, to me, means being considerate of others’ feelings and limiting negative actions. It’s understanding that we are all different and experience the world differently. This diversity of perspectives allows us to build our own thoughts, facts, opinions and more. Because we are a varied species, we naturally have differing opinions and points of view, and they are all valid to an extent. Each and every one of us should be proud of who we are and respect others for who they are. Life is tough, and the varying degrees of opinions are what make life a sweet smorgasbord. Being respectful of other people’s opinions, ideas, cultures, heritage, race, political affiliations, cuisines or whatever it may be, opens up the problem-solving mechanisms in our brains by exposing us to different methods or modes of critical thinking and problem resolution. If we had not been respectful and appreciative of others’ cultures or individuality, we would not have been exposed to the transmission of diverse knowledge and wisdom. Gratitude: This one I am still working on learning myself. Just being thankful for what we have, whether it’s a little or a lot, whether it’s new or old, whether it’s opaque or bold. Being thankful can be difficult at times, but if we make it a habit, it takes us a long way. Being appreciative of who we are and what we do have gives us pride in our efforts to obtain the feelings and possessions that we have. It reminds us that we are capable of obtaining greater things. Gratefulness is a positive loop mechanism. The more grateful we are, the more we realize what we have and what we did to obtain it, and the more we strengthen those positive attainment muscles. So be grateful no matter where you are in this life and at whatever stage you are. Gratitude is a cool attitude, my dude. Honesty: I used to be a liar. It just came naturally to me. Lies flowed off my tongue uncontrollably, whether it was to spare someone’s feelings or for personal gain. But you know something? I got tired of it, bro. I kept forgetting my lies. It happened so many damn times. I would tell a lie, weave a wide web, embellish it. My imagination would run wilder than a mustang on the prairies. I could tell a lie better than Picasso, Van Gogh and Michelangelo could paint. But you know what happened? I got tired of being embarrassed. Embarrassed about forgetting my lies. Have you ever had someone you told a lie to come back and ask you about it, and you stand there dumbfounded, like, “Dude, what are you talking about?” And they’re like, “Dude, that’s what you said last week.” And then you can’t remember anything because it was all lies flowing like a spring stream. I couldn’t do it anymore. My brain is not that complex. Honesty is best. When you tell the truth, you don’t lose, and you never forget the truth. Being honest is respectful because you are not belittling those around you by underestimating their mental capacities through assuming that your lies will entrap or fool them. Being honest is awesome. Just administer honesty in a polite way in situations that involve others’ feelings — you know what I’m saying, partner? Humility: Being humble does not mean belittling or downgrading yourself. On the contrary, it means that you are confident enough in yourself, solid enough to know your faults and limitations and work on them, while also recognizing your strengths and virtues. Being humble allows you to listen, to learn and to grow. It allows you to connect and enjoy. As an immigrant American myself, humility has allowed me to experience and enjoy cultures, cuisines and music from all over the world, which has made me into the unique individual that I am. An old Islamic saying goes as follows: “The more you humble yourself, the more God will uplift you.” Arrogance is abhorrent. Pride in oneself is okay, but arrogance will turn people away from you, and that is not good. Be humble and practice humility, and you shall unlock so many great experiences that will surely blow your mind. You never know where your next piece of happiness and joy is coming from. It might be the old lady at the library or the homeless man on the corner. Forgiveness: Now, this ingredient never goes bad, never expires, and you can never ever overuse it. On the contrary, the more of it you add, the sweeter it spices things up. Forgiveness is beautiful. Don’t hold negative emotions in your heart. Forgiveness rejuvenates the heart, invigorates the soul and makes it lighter. And I think one of the sweetest things in the world is when you see the smile on that individual’s face who might have wronged you but regretted it and came to ask for your forgiveness. I even go further and say forgive those who wrong you and don’t apologize or regret it; just leave it to the cosmic, galactic, karmic universe and it will surely return to you in many positive ways. I do say forgiveness is one of the sweetest joys in the world. Practice it wisely. Compassion: This is a key ingredient. It’s synonymous with empathy to an extent, but more proactive in the sense that you not only feel others’ pain or discomfort but also exert some energy into alleviating it. Compassion makes us more proactive in alleviating issues and solving others’ problems. Compassion is one of those ingredients that’s really good for the heart and soul. It makes both of them stronger, just like how the sun and vitamin D strengthen bones. Positivity: Be careful because this ingredient is fast-spreading, fast acting and almost contagious, and makes the whole recipe extremely tasty and delicious. It will leave you in delight. It is hard to bottle and contain, has no expiration date, and you can sense it before you see it or smell it. It is one that is hard to obtain at times, but once mastered, it can never be exhausted. You start off by adding small amounts of it to your recipe, and it exponentially grows by itself. I say start by obtaining small bits of it here and there, like enjoying the bright, shiny sun rays in the morning when you wake up, the wafting smell of flowers on your morning walk, a sweet sip of your latte or cappuccino or green tea in the morning, smiles of pretty girls walking by, sweet songs of the birds by the window, a beautiful song, whatever. Just make sure you stop and look for it. It is hidden in obvious plain sight all around you. Once you get into the habit of collecting and displaying it, it becomes a key ingredient that you can share with all the neighbors, and you will never run out of it. There are a lot more ingredients out there in the world that can make for a wonderful recipe for being a nice human. I myself have not yet obtained or mastered all of them, but I am working on it, and I hope that you do too, friend. As always, may we all enjoy joy when it comes, and may we be consoled and alleviated when needed. Amen. Thank you, Father Time. “Striving to be a better man today than I was yesterday, and a better man tomorrow than I am today.” JUNE 30, 2023

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