It seems that I have always been destined for Ubuntu. 

I used to listen to my dad’s “We Are The World” record over and over again.  To this day I know every line, every part, every melodic moment of that incredible song.  When he got tired of listening to it, I’d put on headphones to listen until I was tired of being perpetually tethered to the stereo.

Unfortunately, I was always in the way of my Ubuntu; the I-am-because-you-are expression of being.  I wanted to be special – the best, smartest, rightest.  I would win debates with other people by making up the ‘facts’ as I went.  I was trying to win a game I didn’t really understand.

I both admired and envied others, people who did great works.  People who did all the things I wanted to do.  And though I wanted to celebrate their achievements, follow their example, I myself was diminished by these accomplishments.

But no matter what that spirit of Ubuntu was always below the surface.  Every time I extended myself with no thought of the cost, every time I did without so that I could give to another, every time I stood up for someone else.

The truth was always there; I am because you are.  We are one.  Ubuntu.

I’d have these moments of absolute connection; like I was plugged into the universe.  And it was always accompanied with this overwhelming sense of love.  I felt like a vessel bursting at the seams with this ego-swamping emotion.  And I finally got it, finally understood what had been peeping through all of this time. 

When Jesus told us to love our neighbor, love our enemy, to do unto others, it was because it  was  us.  All of it; us.  I am my neighbor.  I am my enemy.  Do unto others because these are not others,  but are me.  I am because we are.  We are one.

The veil of separation had been lifted from my heart and I could finally move through the universe in a spirit of oneness.  Ubuntu. 

And yet, it is still a journey I take each day.  We are the world, but I am only human.

Every time I mentally curse someone out on the highway, I have to come back to Ubuntu.  When I lose patience with people for falling, I have to come back to Ubuntu.  When I am exasperated at the irrational expression of politics in my country, I drag  myself back to Ubuntu.

It is the wellspring of the universe – manna from heaven – the breath of life.  It is a world in harmony. 

I am because you are.  Ubuntu is Love.