Read any comment section on YouTube or Twitter, and you’ll see that these days it’s pretty hard for two people with opposing opinions to have a polite and rational debate, but surely it’s important to hear other people’s opinions, even if you don’t agree with them? That’s certainly what the Human Literary Organization believes.
Human libraries have started appearing, and they’re places where you loan out people rather than books. People can volunteer there to be ‘books’ and ‘readers’ are encouraged to freely ask them questions and receive honest answers in return. There’s no room for judgment and no queries are off limits.
As Upworthy reports, the idea is to spark debates that don’t include political bias, shouting, or nasty insults. The project aims to open dialogues while making people feel better about the world. Who knows, you may even make a new friend.
“Certain communities are being pinpointed as the ‘bad people’ because they believe different, or live different, or eat different, or look different, or have a different color, or ethnic or religious background,” said Ronni Abergel, the Human Library Organization’s founder.
Abergel wants to counter this by offering a free and open space where people can discuss ideas withut fear of judgment or prejudice. Some of the people can ‘read’ includes a Muslim, a Jew, a cancer survivor, a recovering alcoholic, a police officer, a refugee, someone living with Alzheimer’s, a veteran, and a teacher.
The project may sound new, but its actually been going for 16 years, and it’s only becoming more popular. People have been setting up their own events in their communities, including Allison McFadden-Keesling, who opened a similar event for her students in the Oakland Community College in Michigan. The event has now been hosted for over five years.
“The most pleasantly surprising thing about the Human Library is how close all the human books become to one another,” she said. “It has a family reunion feel every time we host as previous human book participants return and others join.”
The world may seem like a very sad and divided place right now, but these Human Libraries remind us that, even when we disagree, we can still be friends with one another. Human Libraries have spread through 82 countries and new ones are launching soon in Pakistan and Jordan.
“We can spend billions and billions on trying to build up homeland security and our safety, but real safety comes from having positive relations to other groups in your community,” said Abergel.
“Real safety is not going to come from building walls. It’s going to come from reaching out and getting to know each other.”
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