This piece was inspired by an experience with a senior colleague. Even though it is a common occurrence in our society today. The act of looking down on others is a regular sight here today and it has become a part of us to an extent some are now considering it to be the norm.
You are educated and have the opportunity to study in one of the best schools in the world, but you think others who studied in schools of lesser pedigree are unfortunate. Then those who attended the institution of lesser pedegree will also be looking down on those who attended the cheap ones. Then you see those who attended cheap schools mocking those who could not afford to attend any school as illiterate and dumb.
Our circumstances are different just as our backgrounds vary. Some people are just unlucky. I have seen people who are not intelligent being pushed all the way by their parents (who invested all they can on their education) to be average. I have seen people who are super intelligent being turned back from school because they could not even afford to eat not to talk of afford quality education. Their preoccupation was first and foremost to survive; to win the battle of the stomach and not to be educated. Some people are fortunate to find a kind person who lift a part of their burden that enable them to proceed on actualising their dream.
A Young girl was forced into hawking to complement her parents' income to enable the family survive. Until a good Samaritan came to their rescue and offered the family free accommodation. The Father was able to save money and use the balance to send their ward to school. She was late in starting school. By the time she is graduating she was taking half of her departmental awards and ended with First class grade. Had the kind man not offered them free accommodation when he did, the story may not have been the same.
I know a rich son who was always coming bottom of his class in primary school but his father used his wealth to get him the best home tutor until he was able to catch up with others. He eventually discovered himself and went on to study abroad. Had his parents been poor and strugging, will his fate have turned that way?
In other way, are people who are affected by one disability or the other but are forced to dig into their inner reserve of will power to match their colleagues who were with all their senses and physical compartments. Some made it, and some failed.
The circumstances of our life differ just as the background and also the environment. The way our mental development was attained is not also uniformed. While some were raised by intelligent, smart, rich. or focused people, some were raised by vagabond, poor, nonchalant and weak minded people. And yet there are those who are naturally gifted. While some developed under the conducive atmosphere for growth, others passed through hostile environment to emerge whatever they become.
We do not know the background of those less fortunate as us, and therefore could not have been a better judge of their outcome. No man or woman is eternally doomed to failure. Their environment and foundation played huge role in what they later become. No man is also truly self made, at the point of turning of fortune, there is a favourable condition or kind person. It may be your parents, a friend, a neighbour, a business partner, a stranger or luck. Whatever it is, we all need such to get to our destination.
Therefore, when you have worked your way up and become a better person than some people, always remeber to wear your new status with humility and compassion towards those below you. You do not know their stories or their struggles. You do not know the point of intercession where their life destiny and their life reality diverge. You do not have to know.
Lift them up without questioning their past and their credential or leave them alone to walk their journey. You are no smarter and they are not dump. You just happened to have the opportunity that they do not have. If you look well enough, you will find some ahead of you who are even better and make you look an underachiever. Let this reality drives your humility and sense of compassion. Lift them up, not trample on them.
I round this off in words of Richelle E. Goodrich, "PPerhaps if you weren't so busy regarding my shortcomings, you'd find that I do possess redeeming qualities, discreet as they may be. I notice when the sky is blue. I smile down at children. I laugh at any innocent attempt at humor. I quietly carry the burdens of others as though they were my own. And I say 'I'm sorry' when you don't. I am not without fault, but I am not without goodness either."
No comments: