Humanity

“We’re only human,” said Steven Syverson, the dean of admissions and financial aid at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. “They shine a little brighter.” (In reference to being more inclined to accepting students who do not apply for financial aid.)

I really hate that excuse. Even "We can only do so much" is okay, but "We're only human" just rings so wrong. Humanity is not an excuse! Don't use that as some sort of crutch or reasoning for errors. It's the opposite. It's ... an inspiration, it's being able to do AMAZING things with our brains and bodies. I'm searching for a way to rephrase "we're only human" into an expression of my sentiment. Something like "we're lucky to be humans". I need to think about it some more.

Now comes the point where I want to make some terrible pun about all of us being Citizens of Humanity to make a lame fashion reference, but I'll resist this time.

original article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/education/31college.html?pagewanted=1