It might seem that during and after 2016, the world slowly started going downhill. Whether it be weather phenomena or political occurrences, it's fair to say that 2016 wasn't the best year. Now, 2018 isn't off to a great start either and it has been an agonizing three months. For example, multiple school shootings have happened where innocent lives have been lost and the rising racial tensions have caused violent clashes.

In Africa, there is an ideology called Ubuntu that, if practiced on a small scale, could lead to an ease on the stresses of the modern world and its problems in your day-to-day life. I would shout this ideology from the rooftops, urging everyone to take a part in it, but that seems unlikely in a society where it's every man for himself, but if it helps one person, at least, then my job is done.

Ubuntu, a term coined by the renowned social activist Desmund Tutu, is a belief practiced mostly in South Africa. Though the world Ubuntu has only been used recently, the belief is deeply rooted in African traditions long before the word "Ubuntu" was written down because most of the culture of Africa was and is passed down orally.

The Ubuntu ideology is better described in Tutu's own words:

"We believe that a person is a person through other persons. That my humanity is caught up, bound up, inextricably, with yours. When I dehumanize you, I dehumanize myself. The solitary human being is a contradiction in terms. Therefore you seek to work for the common good because your humanity comes into its own in community, in belonging."

In other words, despite each other's individual pursuits, be it learning a new language or losing weight, everyone is striving toward a collective greatness. The people, as a whole, are on a quest to make the world a better place through a mutual support system of each other.

This philosophy could be the key to overseeing the way our mind's eye was shaped to judge the world: race, economic class, intelligence, etc., rendering everyone equal to everyone else. Ubuntu, in a way, challenges the forces of dehumanization that are often implemented in our world. Not to mention that it states for us to deal with real-world problems in a positive way by calling out our humanistic values and use them to find a solution that doesn't harm anyone in the process or product.

Ubuntu might be the key to overcoming most of the problems faced today, such as discrimination and political scandals. However, this is something one can only dream of. But if it makes you and a tiny corner of the world better if implemented in your lifestyle, why not give it a try?