The Best Thing I Can Do For The World Is...
The best thing I can do for the world is to continue to challenge every belief system I have been taught but do not necessarily agree with...
Growing up in South Africa in the 80's meant I was exposed to a great deal of hate speech. This was predominantly to do with racism, but also to do with many different types of prejudice.
As you all know by now, I am in a cycle of self-discovery, healing and change, and something that is very important to me now is that people do not judge me without knowing the facts.
Anyone who knows me knows that I will not tolerate any kind of hate speech - especially around the boys. I do not want them growing up with the same hatred in their hearts and minds that my generation was exposed to. If you asked me to pick one life lesson that I think is most important for my boys to learn it would be "live and let live".
As a child and more importantly, as a teenager, I was taught (or heard) a great deal of prejudice, and when these lessons are taught to you during your foundation years they very often become part of your reality. It is a constant choice (and even battle) for me to make up my own mind about prejudice-type topics. My "knee-jerk" reaction in certain situations is to condemn people who do not come from the same race, culture, religion, economic standing etc that I was raised in - and I have fought all my life against these spontaneous thoughts because I do not agree with them.. at all... I am a firm believer in "live and let live".. not only do I believe in it, I practice it every day. And even in this day and age I am exposed to prejudice all the time - but gone are the days where I will let these "voices" have any space or time in my existence.
The best thing I can do for the world is to ensure that the part I play in raising tomorrows generation is to instill a belief of love, honour and mutual respect; for it is only in this way that the scars of the past will heal once and for all in my beloved South Africa.
1 comment:
I personally think that fighting fear and hatred of things and people that are different from you is a great goal. :)
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