Here are words from my 2016 book, The Teacher: A Simple Guide to Daily Life, on the theme of prejudice. Use them to reflect on the nature of this vice, and how best we can seek to tackle it.
I saw a man mocked for his sexuality, children victimised for the colour of their skin, a community persecuted for its faith, a woman passed over on account of her gender, and I knew that thousands endure such prejudice each day, their lives blighted by bigotry and intolerance.
So I said to the Teacher, ‘Speak to me of prejudice.’
And the Teacher answered, ‘As a saying of the wise has it: a prejudiced judgement is never good.’
Then I understood that prejudice should have no place among us, for it is a canker that denigrates and divides, reducing people to objects, categories, labels, no longer deserving of respect or dignity but to be dismissed, derided, even destroyed.
And I saw how prejudice stems from ignorance – not just a failure to understand but a refusal even to try; a hiding behind walls of dogma to avoid engaging with possibilities we’d rather not face. For what is prejudice but a closing of the mind and shuttering of the spirit; a rejection of the need to justify a position or argue a point – association alone being enough to condemn without a hearing, case closed before any evidence is even considered.
Yet I understood that this says more about the one prejudiced than the one discriminated against; more about the insecurity, fear and hatred that drives bigotry than the recipients of its poison. For none can be judged by colour or creed, class or culture. All are unique and precious, just as all are flawed and foolish.
Then I said to the Teacher, ‘What feeds our prejudice, and why does it continue?’
And the Teacher answered, ‘It is wrong to be prejudiced towards some or biased against others, but people will stoop to both for a mere crust of bread.’
And I recognised that we use prejudice to further our own ends: to reinforce our status and identity at the cost of others; to put ourselves among the in-crowd, the ‘normal’, and to push others outside; to label as right or wrong, good or bad, with no doubt left as to which side we are on.
And none is immune, for prejudice lurks in us all: in our easy assumptions, our lazy jumping to conclusions, our all-too-ready passing of judgement; in our perceiving differences as a threat rather than invitation to dialogue, and our closing our ears to whatever questions our preconceptions. Afraid or unwilling to risk genuine encounter, we pigeonhole those who challenge or unsettle us, determined to keep our distance.
My conclusion, then, is this: look not at the labels we place upon others, but at the person beneath, recognising that prejudice runs deeper than we may think, even within our very soul. Approach others as you would have them approach you, respect if you would be respected, and look not for the worst in all, but the best.