hey

First one

Although a bit idealistic, I think that the natural instinct of sociability (and more specifically, sympathy) is a trait that is essential to humanity. When I say that this is idealistic, I mean that some people have the ability to change or eliminate their sympathies for others, as can be seen in sociopaths. These people are the minority, and most of humanity (and even associated animals, as Darwin puts it) exhibit traits of sympathy. In the book, Darwin speaks about "an old and completely blind pelican , which was very fat, and must have been well fed for a long time by his companions." This concept is beautiful to me-- even if it's rooted in self interest (the idea of "what if this happened to me"). Humans exhibit this same trait- we socialize and sympathize with each other.

If we had no fixed nature toward sympathy, the world would be a much colder place. It is only in our loss of the vision of sympathy that we do things that would be universally ethically wrong (like murder or steal). Had the perpetrator been thinking sympathetically, he would have thought of how his victim would feel prior to hurting them. This trait is so important in maintaining a healthy and functioning society that, as I mentioned earlier, people who lack it are labeled sociopaths and looked down upon. Not only do I feel that sympathy is essential to humanity, but I feel like there are MANY traits that are essential (as will be revealed on this discussion board). 

Second one :

All living things possess a drive that goes beyond simply existing. Everything exists to continue the presence of life for them and future generations. From this humans have added the idea of existing for a purpose. Biologically we are driven to ensure the success of our own offspring, but as humans we have included the human race as a collective entity to be preserved. Then on top of that we have diversified what our ideas of preserving human life to mean. We have created so many careers, for lack of a better term, that revolve around preserving a part of our humanity. People will spend their entire lives preserving history, culture, art, ideologies, and a myriad of other things. By doing so they not only give meaning to their own lives, but instill an importance on the things they try to preserve. Humans have a unique ability to contemplate the future that most animals don't have. This allows us to plan, imagine, and set goals. By doing these things we can shape and create the world around us.

For this reason human nature is defined by ambition. Once a person sets a goal, they spend their entire existence in pursuing it. We cannot simply exist without a purpose, We couldn't survive if we didn't set ourselves on gathering food, or finding mates. As humans I think we have taken our basic drives and expanded upon them; instead of just eating we have culinary arts, instead of just finding mates we have romance. We don't raise our children just so that they can survive either. We try to instill values and morality on them, and they go on to instill values on their children. Being human we are social animals, and from this we have developed governments, religions, cultures, and hundreds of other social groups. All of these groups have collective missions they wish to accomplish. Humanity is just a group that includes all of us. Our ambitions may clash, but we are all driven by some purpose. At times when our purposes align humans have been able to accomplish great things, none of which could ever happen if we only existed to exist.