00:00We like to think that we are independent individuals but what if who you are only
00:03exists because of everyone else? I am because you are. You are because we are.
00:08This is the essence of Ubando, an idea that came from African thought and ethnography.
00:12This idea suggests that who we are is shaped by our relationships with other people.
00:15There is a deep sense of interdependence with one another. It reminds us the importance of
00:19communal existence. This interdependence also means that we have a responsibility towards
00:22each other and everything around us including safeguarding our environment even to the smallest
00:26insect that you see because our existence is dependent on the existence of everything around
00:30us. I think we all need witnesses to our life. One of the scenes that I often remember is from
00:34this
00:34movie called Shall We Dance and somebody is asking the character why do you think people get married
00:38and she responds it's because we need a witness to our life and a partner is affirming that but I
00:43think we need multiple witnesses even just in passing and this is why even just smiling at a
00:46stranger is sort of reaffirming that in this brief moment I see you that we are connected and this
00:52interdependence I think is beautiful. The idea is not just about individuals it's about understanding
00:56how we can live with harmony while still implementing our own autonomy. In one explanation of Ubuntu it
01:01suggests as the idea of acting in ways that protects the vulnerable among us the animals around us and
01:05the environment we share. I would even go so far as to say this is an essential part of self
01:09-care
01:09because self-care really cannot exist without communal care. Ubuntu also talks about the fairness
01:13justice and equity within society thereby building strong and cohesive communities. I connected this idea
01:18of Ubuntu to something in psychology called as the vicarious learning where we learn through observing others.
01:22In that sense we learn how to become a person by observing other people and in that way from
01:27birth to death we are connected to one another. There are similar ideas in Euro-American philosophy
01:31too. For example Aristotle said that a person who cannot live with others or who has no need for them
01:35must either be a beast or a god. In other words all humans need other human beings. I think more
01:40than
01:40ever now we need the reminder that we are not alone but also we need the reminder that we are
01:44responsible
01:44for the people around us. Who in your life shaped you who you are as a person today? And let
01:49me know
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