We care for each other – and always have
Perhaps you, like me, are exhausted by the torrent of angry, narrow-minded men sweeping across our planet right now, creating havoc wherever they go. In their hunger for power and status, they provoke, blame, threaten, and lie. They divide people — turning neighbours and friends against each other. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and it saddens me that we aren’t more resilient to it by now. We are better than this.
A new study from Patagonia shows that 2,000 years ago, nomadic hunter-gatherers took care of one another — including those who could no longer hunt, move, or contribute in traditional ways. This isn’t the first time research has shown this. Again and again, we find evidence that our ancestors helped and supported each other.
In a world where survival depended on mobility and strength, care still prevailed. We humans are wired to collaborate — and, as I discussed with Sharna Fabiano earlier this year, our greatest superpower is our ability to build what I call collaborationship.
We have always achieved more through care, collaboration, and interdependence than through division, hierarchy, and dominance. This isn’t an ethical perspective or my opinion—it’s a simple fact.
Our ability to see value in each other and collaborate is not only a skill, it’s what makes us human.
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