The Lie The World Believes In
Humans desire Equality.
Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend who recently went on a trip to Europe and Asia . I choose not to mention the name of the countries he visited because the issue is not necessarily limited to one country.
He mentioned the vague discomfort he felt at being stared at and looked down upon.
I am brown and so is he. His travel companion looked Asian.
He said that although no one necessarily said anything to him, he could not shake the feeling that he was not welcome. He felt racially profiled and quite naturally, uncomfortable.
I told him to let it go, but it made me go back to the age old question -
Why do humans instinctively discriminate?
This incident is not singular.
Discrimination is in our DNA. Probably because if I consider myself better than you , it gives me a sense of superiority . If humans actually believed that every one in the world is truly equal , the social construct that drives people to be, well , “people” would collapse.
Discrimination is a survival mechanism. If I am better than you, it is automatically OK for me to have certain privileges which you do not. It is justified for some people to have mansions and others to survive and live on the street.
When I hear people talk of equality , it makes me laugh at the hypocrisy of the human race.
Literally everyone of us lives with biases. It can be a gender bias or a financial bias or a racial bias.
The affluent talk of equality till they have more than the people around them. People give to others till it does not hurt them. The way we look is okay till there is a deadly disease and we need to blame some one. The colour of your skin does not matter if you are the CEO of a multibillion dollar company. If you are on the street, the colour of your skin matters more than anything you are on the inside.
Equality is the biggest lie the world perpetrates.
Human beings tolerate equality.
Do not blame the man who shoots people of another race. He is the extreme of a people who are rotten on the inside. The problem is not him. The problem is that we are all the same , just to a different degree.
Maybe we need to stop talking of equality , we need to talk of differences and acceptance of those differences.
The world is not equal and will never be but we can change the narrative and talk about being compassionate to everyone.
We can stop staring at people who are different.
Whether it is a female coworker or a transgender employee, a person of another skin colour, a person who looks different , a person who is less privileged, or a person who is from a religion which is different than yours, we are not equal and our life paths are such that we cannot be.
We can be human beings though. And we can accept that discrimination comes naturally to us and we have to do something extra to be accepting of others and their differences.
We can identify the demons inside each one of us and ask — I know I profile other people — how can I be different and not do it?
To be honest, we are terrified of the only entity who’s inherent trait is equality. That is Death guys. The only equaliser of the human race is death. And be rest assured , we will all be equal in the end.
If that is the ultimate fate, why not be a little kind today.
#Accept. #Be Kind. #Differences make this world a better place.
