Español Ubuntu, is an old African word from the Zulu and Xhosa culture that means “I am because we are”. A little story could help us understand the concept. An anthropologist suggested a race between some African kids and offered a few pieces of fruit as the price for the winner. The kids immediately held hands and started running together. When the kids were asked why they did that, they answered “Ubuntu!, how can one of us be happy when the rest is unhappy?”. It’s way better to have a shared apple than to see others being sad or frustrated. This is the essence of the Ubuntu way of thinking, a philosophy, and a way of understanding life and relationships that was applied by Nelson Mandela and bishop Desmond Titu in the national reconstruction and reconciliation process after the south African Apartheid. I am because we are, and from now on nothing human would be aloof to me.
If we want to be and live the Ubuntu way, we might as well remember:
- We all make one big family, the human family. We belong to something bigger than ourselves. We could try to live in brotherhood and work as a team. In this family, we acknowledge everyone, with their strengths and limitations, to be able to build something together. Therefore, from this viewpoint, I see the other person as a partner, a companion, not as an object. Everyone’s abilities would never be a threat because we rejoice and grow with them.
- I would be focused on discovering what connects me to other people. Recognizing and understanding that we’re all connected, actually connects me to others. So, what connects us? What do we share? In which place do our worlds come close or together? When I find out the answer, I understand the other person as another person, but also as a part of me in this intrinsic and magical connection.
- If one of us suffers, we all suffer. Hurting someone is like hurting ourselves. Someone’s suffering is my own suffering, and that’s why I will stop inflicting it and I won’t stay quiet when I see it. Someone else’s pain hurts me too, therefore I won’t hurt anyone or let someone else do it.
- Accept humanity without any conditions, with equality; and accept a person’s true value. We are all important. Human dignity doesn’t rely on how useful, strong, or attractive we are, but only on the fact that we ARE, that we exist. That’s why we enjoy relationships more than money or things.
- Value human life in all its manifestations: Each human being has a mission to fulfill in life. That’s why we value that person as unique and unrepeatable, and in connection with others. Each person becomes human with the warmth and care of other humans. We also learn to be different from that Unity concept.
- I recognize that everybody else is implied in my happiness, and that I am implied in other’s happiness as well. I am happier if I share an apple with others, than if I eat it all by myself. It’s not generally what we think or are socially, but what connects us all.
- There is a link between all human beings, a connection that invites us to overcome challenges, precisely because we are all connected, and there’s a feeling that transcends us, which is Love. Love that connects us and makes us see others as someone closer rather than unknown.
- Ubuntu is to take care of others. It’s to pursue other’s happiness to enjoy my own. When I take care of you, I’m practicing this philosophy of life and relationships. To take care of someone is understanding the other person matters as much as I do, and that we are all part of one same family.
- This way of understanding the world and relationships is far away from the individualism that surrounds us. Because above my wellbeing, is the other’s wellbeing.
The Ubuntu way of thinking invites us to count on others, considering commitment and solidarity. We are not isolated beings, we live in a social environment, with other people around us, who are part of me, and I am part of them.
Let’s not forget that if others win, we all win too.
** This post has been translated from Spanish to English.
