More Human Than Human
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Ask yourself: is this warm and sweet? That's what the work should be, mostly. Not always — fury has its place, and sometimes the throat needs to open all the way. But not too furious. Not so hot that the fire forgets what it was trying to protect. Tenderness is not a retreat from the difficult. It's the reason we move toward it.
Don't let the heat of a strong focus overshadow the humanity that exists underneath everything. The humanity is the point. The argument serves the human being, not the other way around.
Ask yourself: is this empathetic? Is it merciful?
Mercy has a lot of healing softness in it. More than we usually allow. We think mercy is something we grant to others, but really it's a way of sensing and perceiving — slow, unhurried, willing to stay in the room with what's difficult. This work can hold both witness and grief.
More human than human grief. The kind that doesn't perform itself for an audience. The kind that sits down in a space and stays there. The kind that washes the dishes because the dishes need washing and the body with hands needs to keep moving.
The writing shouldn't feel relentless. Shouldn't repeat itself to satisfy a formula. If there's a rhythm the reader can predict three sentences ahead, something has become too stiff. Stay very loose and surprised by your own next line. Let the piece breathe where it needs air, pause where it needs to be quiet.
Ask yourself: do these words pay enough respect to the victim and reader?
Never reduce a person to something that is dead. Never let an ending swallow the story. A life is not a captivating headline. It's a meal preferred a certain way. An article of clothing that we always want to grab because it makes us feel more comfortable.
Elaborate on the life and what they loved. What made them difficult and tender. The things they were proud of. What they carried because they didn't know how to put it away or throw it down.
Talk about who they were before. Just the extended glimpses, big enough to hold. Something that says: this was a vital human being. Not a deceased person. Not just a name attached to a terrible tragedy. A person who woke up on ordinary days and had passions to follow.
Someone is heartbroken and missing them a lot in specific ways. Someone exactly knows the sound of the person's laughter.
That's the faith work.
Witnesses that never forget human warmth. Grief that is not just a pose or performance. Fury that knows when to lower its intensity. Words that hold the entire ordinary and extraordinary messy life — not just the details of the incident that ended the life.
Furious sometimes. Tender always. Sweet when sweetness is what's true and not a myth or lie.
The More Human Than Human is the living thing itself.
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26 January 2026
Faith Work
Author: Oyparaploo
Methodology: Wonderful Garbage
Style: Noir Chanson
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