Freewrite: What Does it mean to be Human?

What does it mean to be human?  Is humanity simply a gift, or something that needs to be achieved, such as an accomplishment?  I believe that Personhood is something that needs to be achieved, and not simply given or bestowed on a person at birth.  Personhood, however, I believe is different than humanity. Personhood cannot simply be bestowed upon a human being as they are born because being a person, is a special trait that needs to be established by the rest of humanity.  Is just floating through life and not doing anything productive being a person?  Yes, technically that person is still human, but only because of DNA.  The way we can divide the category of humans up, is the ones who try and make a difference or stand out, and the ones who go with the flow and have none of their own opinions.

The Stranger post #1

I believe that Mersault never truly evolves out of the first stage, or that would give his existence essence.  I believe that his decisions can bring him out of his one dimensional life, such as when he shot the Arab, but even then Mersault didn't really ever reach out into the essence part of existence.  Even in his jail cell, he goes over the same things over and over again until he get used to it.  He never ever reaches out of the existence stage of life and into the essence phase.