You can’t go through life hating everyone for everything you don’t like, and its unfortunate many people don’t learn this until they are much older. You can’t always associate older with wiser though, and it could be fair to say that some people can never get over gripes. You can’t hate the haters though – the best you can do is try to accept where they are coming from, adapt accordingly, and maybe try to apply a bit of rational thought.
As far as hating goes – I am as guilty as the biggest Canadian, Anti-Semitic, Communist party member… Well, in my youth anyways… The funny thing about this is that I am still in my youth, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, I have been able to develop a fairly strong sense of perspective.
It would have been only 6 months ago - When an American started talking to me at a bar or a pub, I would automatically hold them in contempt because of attitudes displayed by some of their compatriots. Only now, after witnessing prejudice on a grand scale, have I realised that my vitriol was not necessary, and my hateful emotions were merely a waste of energy on my part.
If I could have one grand penultimate wish in my lifetime – I honestly believe I would forgo any superficial desires, and I would wish for the whole world to develop a sense of perspective. Till the day he died a bald old man, my Grandpa had nothing but hatred for the Japanese because of World War II. My grandpa fought against the Japanese, and I am sure many of his friends died by their bullets… I was only 12 years old when my grandpa died, so I never got to have a mature conversation with him on the subject matter, I do honestly believe though, he never achieved the sense of perspective that was required to find contentment, he died with hatred in his heart, and that is nothing to be proud of.
I am trying to isolate the key ingredients to develop a sense of perspective… Not blowing any trumpets here, but what makes me so freaken special, that I can have this sense of perception, and it only allows me to get upset at people who don’t have a sense of perception? Why doesn’t this sense of perception, help me perceive as to why they don’t have a sense of perception, and then allow me to indifferently accept?
Is it fair to say that people who lack depth in perception are automatically morons? If this is the case, I am a self confessed moron. Auspiciously, I have been able to regress from this moronic state, and realise I was not a moron at all; I just lacked a little perception!
Essentially, I think I can attribute perception to a willingness to learn… not necessarily understand, but to learn. The only absolute in this world is that nothing is absolute… who, what, where, why and how are always irrelevant after the fact anyway – so worrying about it and critique will not achieve anything.
There is a saying that I am quite fond of lately – “To Learn something is to gain knowledge, to lose something is to gain wisdom” Does this mean that we have to become close with what we don’t understand, then feel the pain of the loss, to gain a sense of perspective? It doesn’t make very much sense does it?
That’s the trick – Life doesn’t make sense, and the more you understand about life, and the dire state we are all in based on sociological trends, the more your sense of perception becomes more like a curse. Having a sense of perception will isolate you and your beliefs from other people no matter what – it will detach you from mainstream society, not deliberately, but inadvertently… the more you know, the less you understand.
No one said life would be easy, and I was certainly never told it would make sense… sometimes I am happy that people don’t care to understand, because understanding that some people just don’t care can be depressing… The lesson I am learning in life - is to care and live by example.
By expressing hatred and wrath towards Americans based on my ‘perceptions’ of them, I was putting myself in a position to be spurned with counter vitriol and diatribe – I never wanted this, and whilst I laugh at a challenge, I have realised that to ask people to be considerate of your and others feelings, the pinnacle rule is to be mindful of their thoughts. You don’t have to care what people think, just like you shouldn’t expect people to care about what you think.
These little revelations have changed me as a person somewhat over the last year or so, and a friend was actually worried that I would lose my passion. Passion is not something you lose. If anything, my passion has been intensified, just redirected to more productive avenues… by detaching myself from personal situations, it’s far easier to observe and adapt to each forthcoming situation in my life.
As a person who wants nothing more than education, I can’t afford to judge you on the country you come from, or the colour of your skin, or your intense passion for Justin Timberlake, I am going to judge you by my reaction to you after I have given you the chance you deserve…
All I ask is that you give me that same chance in return… lets help each other evolve into better people.
BAM!!!