“Sit back, y’all, and just relax, y’all.” – The Roots, Essaywhuman?!

As I walked through the parking lot of the mall where my gym is located yesterday, a woman drove slowly down a lane, stopped a few feet from the red lights of a car parked in a space and tapped her horn.

“Are you leaving,” she asked. Her voice wasn’t very loud. I could only sort of make out what she said and the driver of the parked car didn’t hear her at all. After a few moments, she honked again.

The parked car driver said, “Are you honking at me?” It was intense and accusatory.

Now the honker was on edge and had found her voice. “Are you leaving,” she asked again. Loud enough that everyone heard.

“I am,” said the woman parked in the space. She paused and then said, “In a minute.”

“What the fuck are you doing,” said the honking woman as she leaned further out of her car.

I kept walking.

Kid President asked Beyoncé what she thought the world needed more of on World Humanitarian Day (that’s the theme, this year, by the way). If he asked me, I’d say patience with each other.

On a recent episode of Iyanla, Fix My Life, she tells a long-married couple that seems headed towards divorce to think higher of each other. That has been in my head a lot since I heard it. I might clown on Iyanla and her metaphors and wacky exercises and how she never lets her giant purse get more than a few inches away from her but, sometimes, she says something meaningful.

I would ask people to think the best of each other first and wait to be proven wrong. Believe that we are all trying to do our best. Believe that everyone you meet could be having a harder day than you are. Believe that we all carry a burden. And enter every interaction with kindness.

That’s human to me.

And, since I mentioned this Flyte Time produced jam on twitter the other day, here’s a bonus video: