Sometimes, the world’s population can seem divided into two academic spheres: those that gravitate towards STEM subjects (think math and science), and those that gravitate towards the humanities (think language and social studies). There is a certain stigma that comes through the humanities, that in the real adult life, they are useless, that they won’t get you a job, that in our hectic lives we often can’t make time for them.
But without the humanities we are nothing.
I’m also not wanting to undermine the necessity of STEM. Without it, we wouldn’t have progression, and things wouldn’t work.
I know that a great quantity of STEM-minded individuals also love the humanities and understand their appeal, their importance. I am not trying to over-generalize. However, in our lightning-speed society, our time bordered with work and events and car rides to places in between, it can be hard to sequester the humanities into a daily lifestyle.
But the humanities fix just this problem. It’s easy to get lost in the throes of a bustling life, but the whole purpose of humanities is to help us find and understand ourselves.
It is through creating art that we can uninhibitedly pour out our aching souls and leave an imprint of our unique experiences here on the planet. It is through studying history and culture that we can understand human motives and reinforce our ideals. Through humanities, we can note that despite all our differences, we are the same.
The humanities have no rigid rules. Sure, you may argue that history tends to repeat itself and there are broad, overarching patterns throughout it; however, even when history “repeats,” there’s always a variation. No two wars ever fought have the same storyline or same characters. You may argue that language is riddled with rules; however, it doesn’t always have to be in a creative outlet, such as in poetry.
The few “rules” in the humanities simply serve to prop them up, unlike in other studies, where formulas are everything. They allow for clearer expression of idea--we have grammar and mechanics in writing and we treasure technique and craftsmanship in visual arts for this purpose, yet the real message and what matters is in the content of the piece.
Yes, the study of law has its basis on rules, rules, rules. And still, even laws can change, and are not set in stone. Laws, too, are a reflection of ourselves, epitomizing mankind’s greatest achievement, based on the morality we have built up and used to pull ourselves from savagery, but precise definitions of morality are subjective and shift in time.
The humanities are a study of imperfections-- and how they are perfectly fine. Through language, we express contrasting, clashing opinions-- and though neither are right, neither are wrong. Through mournful lyricism, we can lament about our own faults or the faults of the world or in our lives. And yet, you can sift through piles of laws and historical facts and art espousing the same principles, but still everything is unique.
Without being suppressed by rules and formulas with a single correct answer, it is because of the humanities why we don’t lose our minds, where we find purpose to life, and most of all, where we can find strength through creations and recreations of ourselves..
