More than three-and-a-half million years ago, three of our common ancestors, early humans, walked across a plain in Laetoli, Tanzania. As luck would have it, the plain was coated in wet volcanic ash, which preserved their footprints. Their trail of around 70 impressions is widely considered to memorialize an incredibly significant human achievement: walking on two feet instead of four. This freed up our hands, allowing us to carry things, shape tools from rocks and bones, and eventually express ourselves through drawings and written words. Indeed, our common human history is replete with accomplishments that have made us who we are today. We learned to control—instead of fear—fire. We overcame primal anxiety of open water and built boats because we are a naturally curious, adventurous, and audacious species.
Of course, human history is not just about these evolutionary milestones. Sadly, it is also filled with horrors that we have wrought upon each other. Somewhere along our three-and-a-half million-year evolutionary journey we lost sight of our human commonalities. This is tragic. But it is also reversible.