WHEN WE SPEW THE POISON OF OUR PREJUDICE




“Do you know what we call opinion

in the absence of evidence?

We call it prejudice.”


― Michael Crichton

 

None of us live in a vacuum… not in our private islands, not in our communes. We live right in the midst of a mass -– consisting of hundreds of cultures, customs, languages, religious beliefs, eating habits, and political affiliations… And, in my view, it’s not only a great beauty, but, it’s, also, a great blessing…

Think of a citizen of this country like me –- a teacher. For decades, my life had been surrounded by young students from different parts of this country… who spoke different languages, wore their traditional clothes, ate their ethnic food, prayed to their respective deities… and voted to whom they preferred. I was born in a Christian family. In Christianity itself, there are a dozen denominations. I was raised in the coastal town, Mangalore… My neighbours, classmates, friends –- yes, our differences, as I said, did not make our minds narrow -– they only broadened them…

The only time, our minds narrowed, and hearts closed their gates, was when communal riots broke out in our town. And, invariably, such riots were instigated by self-serving political leaders.

The seeds of poison are sown in a mind which has lost its ability to ‘think’…





Today, when I see how many of us have been so rampantly polarized, I ask myself this question:

Can a teacher/writer like me allow my personal prejudice spill out in my classroom, or in my writings?

But, I see many of my fellow-professionals allowing their prejudice to spill out openly…

A teacher, doctor, lawyer, artist, businessman, student –- we all have our right and duty to be responsible citizens of this nation. But, when we behave openly –- particularly in social media –- spewing the poison of our prejudice, it’s clear, that we have lost our discerning power…

We have become the members of the herd… We have become the mob.

Leo Buscaglia said this: “Don't walk in my head with your dirty feet.”

I find myself not only giving this stern warning, but, also, receiving it…




GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: Pixabay  1. wal 172619  

                     2. Ri Ya

Video: Harmony Circle SG

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BUT, NOT INTO EACH OTHER'S KEEPING...

Image
"If you can not love yourself, You can not love another.” I meet many young college students who are head-over-heals in relationship. They call it ‘Love’. One of the most difficult things to deal with in such relationship, for most of them, is: the desperate clinging of the other partner. “Why didn’t you call? Why didn’t you meet? Where did you go? What did you do? Who was there with you? Why can’t we go out? Why did you wear this? Why did you go there? Why? What? When? Who? Where? Whose?... Yes, all the possible ‘W’s’ in the world. Yes, in the world of our ‘Love Birds’. What starts as some romantic sweet-nothings, now is marred with endless probing, judging, accusing, blaming, sulking, fighting and pain. Most of them are unprepared to deal with this volatile shift… They end up hurting each other; more importantly, they end up hurting themselves. They begin to wonder: Where has all the sweetness gone? Why am I feeling so lonely now? Why is this suffocation? This fear? T...
Read more

LOVE NEEDS TO BE MADE LIKE A BREAD

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there like a stone; it has to be made like a bread, remade all the time, made new.” Ursula K Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven “E motional blackmail! Parenting is something, I feel, I am failing! We keep telling her to do things she is not keen doing… I can’t engage her in books… I can’t take responsibility of a dog, the only thing she is asking for since ages! What to do, my teacher?” This was the daily frustration of a typical parent. She has two little girls… One of them (age ten) has brought the mother, once my student and now a friend who lives abroad, express her frustration here. Now, I have had a ‘longer experience’ as a parent compared to this student/friend of mine. So, the temptation was to give her some ready gyan on what to do and what not to do… Whether she should gift a dog to her little one or not. The reality was this… My gyan was of no use for my friend to deal with her daily situatio...
Read more

CHIKNI CHAMELI...

Image
If you have food in your fridge and clothes on your back, A roof over your head and a place to sleep, You are ‘richer’ than 75% of the entire world!  If you have money in your wallet and a little change, And can go anywhere you want, You are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy! If you woke up this morning, with more health than illness, You are more blessed than a million people Who won’t survive this week and die! If you can actually read this message, and understand it, You are more fortunate than the three-billion people in the world, Who can not see, don’t know English, or suffer being mentally retarded! LIFE is not about men/women who dumped you, Or whatever else that doesn’t matter… It is about a thousand other reasons to be Happy… So, ‘CHEERS!!!’ to this Life… Have a cheerful day!!!  Almost a month has passed since I received this Good-Morning message from my younger brother, Viva. Ev...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...