Interaction: Think Less Prejudice to Advance in Life
By Olusegun HOSEA
Hook:
Thinking negatively about others is prejudice. It can lead us to make the wrong decisions and misjudge others because we lack facts that are required about the person we are judging.
Background
A person without knowledge is not good. Proverbs 19 vs 2. What it means is that wisdom is very important in all things that we do. The fact that someone disagreed with your opinion does not make the person ignorant. There is a divergence of opinions about the matter that forms an argument between two people or groups. When you take offense simply because someone takes you up and challenges your opinion, you begin to be prejudiced about that person, then you are not different from a fool that lacks wisdom. Before condemning, try to harness your facts and figures before making a decision about any action generalized about an individual. When you allow your subconscious mind to take absolute control of your thoughts and thinking, then you will not dance to the public misconception people have about the victim of prejudice.
Misconception about Race
Since time immemorial, the Jews were accused in Europe of being responsible for the economic crisis of the German government just because of the virus of this prejudice the people formed about a particular nation, forgetting that all were made from a particular source, which is God, and men are different just like nations were different from one another. Therefore, the woes of a particular country’s economy could not be blamed on another nation that was even having its own problems to solve. The way we think is quite different from the way of the Lord. We human beings are judged by our appearance while God looks at the man. Any person or nation that acts well in line with the laid-down rules and regulations of God would be in the heart of the Creator, but when you go contrary, it will look like you are being prejudiced by your Creator against those that He loves.
PREJUDICE ABOUT INDIVIDUAL
The world is big enough to accommodate the existence of human beings and allow free flow of interaction among the existing races. To be prejudiced against an individual is like condemning oneself indirectly because all human beings belong to the human family. One should try to hesitate before taking some degree of action in following the wrong generalization about the victim of prejudice. Most of the time, when close to the individual, he or she would have a story to tell that may probably interest you and form a different opinion that is more genuine than the previous wrong generalization thinking about the person being stereotyped. Therefore, it’s good for anyone to have an independent mind rather than following a scoop of opinions that is wrong, which may probably lead to a wrong judgment. All we require is empathy for the victims of prejudice.
EMPATHY AN ACTION TO IMBIBE
An injury to one is an injury to all. Since everyone belongs to the human family, as we said above, it’s therefore required from everyone to always have empathy for one another rather than promoting prejudice against individuals or groups of people. Empathy is having similar feelings about the same person that is being prejudiced in order to have the same experience with such person or people. A practical illustration may be having prejudice against a particular political party in Nigeria, which may not mean that all those people in that group are bad. The fact still remains that every group member carries an individual mind in which they operate, and having empathy for other groups should be something that one should imbibe if we want to forge ahead in life. The lack of empathy within our political and religious, as well as academic systems, is what is causing friction and disorders in the society.
Recently, students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, protested against the prolonged strike by their lecturers due to the arrears owed by the government to the lecturers, after which the government later released funds to offset the outstanding. It’s because the government had empathy for the lecturers that was why they took that positive action towards their demands. On the other hand, when the lecturers received their pay, it was expected that they would give some empathy to their students by calling off their strike.
In another dimension, it was alleged that some military personnel were shooting when the students were demonstrating for their rights. This action was embarked upon by the Million Men, as alleged, due to a lack of empathy, just because they did not put themselves into the situation the students were passing through before releasing bullets at them. All we are saying is that empathy should be inculcated in all our dealings, and we should avoid being prejudiced against our fellow human beings.
In conclusion, while we have different beliefs, it’s often good to always let our thoughts and feelings guide us rather than allowing the public opinion about an individual or group to determine our actions towards such individuals or groups that we are prejudiced against. What we should be after in life is to see how to expand the circle of our friends in order to learn more about the individual culture, music, and their stories so that we can be more refined and have a harmonious society that will be devoid of acrimony if only that we can think less prejudice to advance in life.
