Adaptation in Human Terms: Learning to Care in Community (Blog Competition 2025 Round 3 Runner-Up)

Updated: 22.09.2025

Read time: 2 min read

All organisms are genetically coded to orient to their environment—a process called adaptation. This is nature’s harshest and cruelest law, but it’s the reason that resilient life forms have thrived throughout the history of life on Earth. However, the primitive definition of adapting to survive is a world away from the modern human experience. Nowadays, adaptation is a gradual shift, a process of orienting ourselves to other people’s personalities and actions to be better harmonized in society.

In my experience, adaptability isn’t an instant change. It’s a process I’ve learned firsthand over the past three years living in a dormitory. It wasn’t a single moment of realization, but a series of small lessons and compromises. Over time, I came to understand that the most important thing about modern adaptation is caring for others. Unlike a shark in the sea that only looks out for itself, humans have a social obligation to care for those around them, and that’s the core of how we learn to adapt in a new environment.

When we first moved into the dorm, we all experienced close-quarters living for the first time, and many people acted without considering others. Some disturbed neighbors with loud music, while others used personal belongings without permission. These problems weren’t meant to be solved with payback or revenge; instead, people developed an important skill: empathy. With empathy, students grew healthier relationships, argued less, and were happier.

I realized our dormitory felt like a small-scale society. The students who once took advantage of others began to see the value in respecting others’ space. When the majority of the community did what was right, those with negative attributes tended to blend in and mimic respectful actions. I now know that adapting to a human environment is a continuous, empathetic process requiring skills like patience, communication, and, most importantly, caring for each other. To become a unified group, humans need to share love and recognize every member of a community.