SMU blog #8: The others

 All being are made equal, or least we are told. To me, everybody has to be respected because they have unique feelings and perspectives that can prove to be insightful. However, I am not above labeling someone as different as me. What differentiates me from you or us from others is defined by the individual. Matters that I hold in high regard could be unimportant to you. That is what separates me from "others"; is the fact that I respect each individual’s perspective. I would never ask someone to conform to my belief structure and anyone who would cast their opinion as fact (like religious zealots) could not be more different than me.
 Our belief structure is put in its place during our childhood and is fortified throughout our lives. We our highly influenced as children and as we age we become more confident in our view, so what was learned as child can never be unlearned. There are some people (like those zealots) that are taught that there are no other alternatives then there beliefs.  These people often have influential figures in their lives that instill their ideology into them. I on the other hand, built my ideology around the information my eyes received and not what was told to me. I think for myself, and learn or I and anyone who believes what they are told without completely thinking it through couldn't have a more different fundamental view of the world.
  Perhaps what separates me from the others is the fact that as a child I never had any one telling me what to make of the world. I was blessed with the ability to think about what was presented in front of me and to not blindly accept anything. I believe that if more people in the world were taught less about how to think as children and instead instilled with the tools necessary to think for themselves; we would have a more open minded and tolerant society because respect for others point of view is what will unite the world instead of intolerance keeping us apart.
 All my life I have experienced discrimination because of my belief that every ones perspective deserves respect. In school, if someone was getting made fun of for being different, I would be the first person to jump in and defend them. This immediately created a division between the two parties; me and the victim vs. everyone else. I didn't necessarily like the victim or agree with what he had to say. All I had to know what that the law of my life, respect, was being violated. Others who didn't understand or embrace this philosophy would interpret it as disrespect or as an offence. I quickly got used to this role of "the other" and would seek out friends who shared a similar way of thinking to me in order to bring some sense of comfort that I am not the only one who thinks this way. However, once a connection is established with a like minded individual, I find that it’s rewarding and worth the discrimination. To me, it is about quality over quantity.
 To make it simple respect others ideology. Ideology is defined as "A is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions" and since no two children are raised the same it is highly unlikely that there will be another individual who perceives things the exact same way you will. If we don't learn to respect others viewpoints; it’s going to be a long, lonely life filled with discrimination and confusion. But if we learn that there is no right or wrong and only our perception, we will see how much easier it is to get along with everyone else. We should look at every one else as "brother" and not the "other".