An essay on Diversity, Tolerance, and Progress:
The world we live in, is not the world our grandparents lived in. It is also not the world our children will live in.
The notion that we ...
An essay on Diversity, Tolerance, and Progress:
The world we live in, is not the world our grandparents lived in. It is also not the world our children will live in.
The notion that we have of human rights, is very new to the human race. It feels intuitive that one should value human life, human dignity, and human equality. History speaks otherwise.
Just over 200 years ago, slavery was still legally practiced in most of the world. 100 years ago in most of the world, women were not allowed to vote, and the legal age of consent for girls’ marriage in the US and Europe was as low as 10.
The world we live in today is far from perfect. Homosexuality is illegal in about 74 out of the 195 countries of the world - in 13 of these, gays and lesbians face the death penalty. Globally, 22,000 children die each day as a result of poverty. In South Africa, where I live, it is estimated that any woman born, has a greater chance of being raped than finishing school.
The world we live in today is far from perfect. But we are making progress. We’ve got a long way to go. But we’re getting there. The world is changing, for the better, and we are lucky to be living in a time where we can be part of the change that is unfolding.
Understanding Prejudice
Prejudice and discrimination have many roots. It is an act of fearing that which is unknown, it is a feeling of helplessness, an expression of guilt, and sometimes simply the failure of being able to imagine the humanity of others. We all carry a certain level of prejudice and preconceived notions of other people.
Reading the world in binaries is attractive to the human mind – male/female, black/white, young/old, gay/straight, good/evil, etc. In reality, the world is more complex and a lot more fluid than we give it credit for. A human was not shaped to fit into a conveniently labelled box.
Look into the mirror. What do you see? Human nature lets us map a world in terms of characteristics - hair colour, race, sexuality, gender, age – these are some of the attributes that we use to describe ourselves and the people that surround us. To pretend that we are blind to these characteristics would be untruthful.
But those attributes do not reveal much of the individuals that we are, and it does not speak of the deeper meaning of what lies beneath the surface. These attributes do not define us, but they do reflect upon us. I grew up with all the privilege that came with living in a middle-class world. As a woman, the world opens up to me – an experience not shared by the women living before me, and many living alongside me. As a lesbian, I had to face a fair amount of prejudice, even from myself. We will only move forward as a society when we start embracing the differences in others as something beautiful.
Prejudice tends to persist in people’s minds long after they have been proved otherwise by experience. Learning to see people differently from the way we were brought up to, is a slow process. And it might not be your job to educate people about confronting their own prejudices. But being patient and kind towards those that judge you, is an easy way to change the world.
Embracing others, start with embracing yourself.
Before we can overcome the fear we have of others, we need to learn to accept ourselves, and to like ourselves. We all long to fit in, to be loved, to be accepted, and to be acknowledged. Embracing yourself, and realising that you are perfect and wonderful just the way you are, is one of the most challenging things that anyone can ever face. It takes a lot of bravery to accept everything about yourself, without apologies or regrets. Until you can do this, it is impossible to truly embrace others.
Embracing Diversity.
The word “tolerance” has always sat somewhat uneasy with me. I tolerate the heat on an uncomfortably hot summer’s day. I tolerate the sound of the neighbour’s lawnmower on a Saturday morning when I’m lazily lying in bed. I tolerate the wind that is so characteristic to Cape Town. I tolerate these things, because I have no choice, and I have no power to change them.
I don’t want you to tolerate me. And I don’t want you to accept me because you see that I am essentially no different from you. I am different from you. And that is okay. I want you to not just tolerate that which makes me different, but to embrace it. To recognise that in being different from you, I am adding richness to the world around us. My differences are not a threat, but something beautiful. And you do not need to be afraid of me. I don’t want to be afraid of you.
