Art Credit: Meredith Jensen

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expect Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thigh bone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said.

- Ira Byock

Then, does this make America uncivilized? Does this make every capitalist-driven sociey uncivilized?

We teach our young to chase individualism—to not need anybody, to be able to sustain themselves; to be independent. We tout principles that lean away from serving others and instead serve ourselves.

In tense moments of competition, it is every man, woman, and child for themselves. The strongest win; the weakest lose. We legitimize it by deeming it natural selection: some will make it, others were never meant to.

The one that lends a hand to the one that has fallen is most disrespected by his peers. The one with the soft heart, extended arms, and warm eyes is perceived as the one that has chosen weakness over strength. He is spat on.

Why?

If we fulfill our purpose, as human beings, most when we are serving others, why do we commit to social restraints that vow against genuine demonstrations of compassion?

Are we intimidated by it? Intimidated by something we weren’t given the opportunity to fully engage in and, so, never learned how to embrace? Are we jealous of those that did have that chance?

If we feel most whole when we do for others, why do we choose to live splintered apart?

We are not, as a country, civilized. It is my hope that we will become so.