In the Zulu culture, "Ubuntu" roughly means that a person is a person because of other people, "I am because we are." From the rich, African philosophy we can learn the value of community.
A class I was teaching this semester, the Psychology of Mediation, found this word to have special meaning today. The students learned that it is through our appreciation of our interdependence, we can be better people and create a better world. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that we are inextricably connected. What one of us does, impacts us all.
“Africans have a thing called ubuntu. It is about the essence of being human, it is part of the gift that Africa will give the world. It embraces hospitality, caring about others, being willing to go the extra mile for the sake of another. 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 inexorably 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.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Watching the students, from a variety of backgrounds, look at the concept of "Ubuntu" confirmed my confidence in our shared future. These young future leaders understood the responsibility of being global citizens and the importance of respecting each other. I was humbled and proud of them.
It is important for any of us hoping for peace to learn the responsibility we have not just for ourselves and our own actions, but for each other.