We live in a world where judgment is passed on you due to your colour, race, tribe or culture, this is the bane of our society that have torn us apart instead of uniting us.
I come from a family of avid travellers who love to know how the other party live. These passions for travelling has taught me a great lesson that I should never judge a book by his cover, but rather by his content.
Also, coming from a country with diverse culture and language it is very easy to assume that the other person would act in a certain way based on your interaction with a few people of that culture, but history and travelling have taught me otherwise.
I get worried when I hear negative comments from people about other people or place and my first reaction is “Do You Really Know What You Are Talking About, Have You Interacted With The People Or Persons”. It is easy to say something about a subject you know nothing about based on your perception of what you think that person or place should be, which most times is wrong, for no two persons or place are the same.
My travels and interaction have made me to realise the differences in people and so, for you to judge a person without interacting with the person is not a fair thing. I have also fallen victim of this, for before now my perception of the American society is that it is made up of gun trotting, drug filled society and with people who judge you by your colour, but having related to so many American’s have I come to realise that this is not true. This was possible due to my exposure.
I was also shocked in the cause of my travel, when I was asked by an American, if drugs are openly used in Nigeria, due to the few bad eggs who traffic in drugs, and I told the person that he needs to visit Nigeria to understand that the vast majority of Nigerian’s do not know the colour of the different drugs in the market and that despite my education and travels I too do not also know what they look like. This view would not have occurred if the person has been exposed to Nigeria.
When you seat in a place without trying to find out how the other party lives then the tendency is that you are going to pass the wrong judgement. I advocate that people should learn to travel and interact with other people and culture and thus get to know other people and culture and I believe this tension among people of different race and culture will be diffused and respect will also be given.
We learn to know people for who they are and not by what we perceive them to be when we interact with them and get exposed to their ways, then we are right to pass judgement on that person.