BLACK OR WHITE- TELL ME WHO YOU ARE

Black, white, brown…these are not just random listings of colours but basis that we use more often than not to distinguish between people. A distinction that so many times leads to discrimination of the worst kind. Since time immemorial the colour of one’s skin determined whether he woule belong to the clan of the rulers or the ruled. Apparently skill wasn’t a good enough criterion to determine who should be entitled to what. We wanted something that was merely skin deep. But are we really better than our primitive ancestors when it comes to giving equal opportunities and status to the people around us? Has the years of education and development of civilization made our thought process any more humane than it was all those years ago?

The colour of our skin is not all that we have limited our purview of discrimination to, rather we have used all the possible factors under the sun to create boundaries that go beyond the geographical demarcations. People have been classified like objects on the basis of religion, region, caste, colour up to a point that we can create genus and species classification of human beings the way we do with birds and animals. Is it really this easy to grade us, one of the most evolved, intelligent and complex creatures of nature? Are superficial factors taking over what really matters- the heart, mind and soul of a person?

In today’s modern times when the geographical distances have become nothing more than a few hours travel due to the development in every sphere of science and technology people fear to travel freely and disclose their true identities as the fear of how they would be received in another nation plagues their heart and mind. For as it has been made more than clear that being from India or Pakistan gives you an edge above the others when considering who could be a potential terrorist or threat to the other nation’s security.

Some of the recent incidences well substantiate these factors. An Indian student was brutally beaten up in Australia for no apparent rhyme or reason. Indian passengers were stranded for hours together without so much as being offered basic amenities by Air France. If this is not discrimination then why was the same treatment not extended to the other passengers on the same flight? We know about these events because the people involved in them dared to raise their voice against the injustice being carried so blatantly in broad day light. But there are numerous other cases that do not come to the lime light because people are afraid to speak up and fight against what’s wrong and unjust. These things do not just take place at the international level, rather they take place everyday in our homes when we discriminate against our own domestic help treating them as mere objects rather than people who have feelings just like us and feel the pain that we at times so thoughtlessly inflict on them. Discrimination is when we raise our children to clearly distinguish between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs without imparting a much needed lesson in tolerance. Discrimination in all forms, shapes and sizes is around, you will also find it, but only when you stop looking and start seeing, when you stop hearing and start listening.

God made each person unique, with traits both good and bad. Its is for us to be able to learn to appreciate each other the way we are and not create watertight compartments and set people apart on the basis of how they look, or talk, the families they were born into or the religious belief that they carry in their hearts. We have to rise above these things and embrace humanity, love and tolerance above all other things and then may be we can together create a better world for the generations to come. A world that would know compassion and friendship, where people would be proud of who they are and won’t try to morph into something that they believe would make them more acceptable to the world and their fellow beings. This world will start with you and me…so let us today make a new beginning.