Discrimination lives within everyone

Discrimination, it is an act of making a distinction against people who are different from us, different in terms of the colour of our skin, our sex and even our age. I believe that discrimination lies within everyone. We tend to discriminate even though we are clearly aware that it's not right to do so. Why can't we just be a bit more open-minded and just accept everyone for who they are? I mean, we all live under the same sun and walk under the same moon. Why can't we all live as one? Some people discriminate because they have this mentality of being prejudiced against people who are different, but some people discriminate simply because they find satisfaction in doing so.

One of the discriminations that I should point out is racial discrimination. Racial discrimination involves treating someone unfavourably because he or she is of a certain race or has a different skin colour. In America, the Native Americans are often labelled as the ‘Blacks’ whereas the European Americans are labelled as the ‘Whites’. The ‘Whites’ are more privileged by law in matters of voting rights and also citizenship. This is just wrong! Everyone should be treated fairly, and not be prejudiced due to the colour of their skin. Moreover, we, Malaysians also have the habit of discriminating others. As we all know, Malaysia is a multiracial country, and problems like these are inevitable. For an example, the Malays and the Indians give people 'bad impressions' in a sense that we always think they are the ones who commit the crimes.  Here are some examples: 'Someone snatched your handbag? Must be an Indian!" or "The person driving in front drives like a snail! It must be a Malay woman with a tudung!” Furthermore, the Chinese are also known the “frauds”. The Chinese are the ones who con people's money. Everyone seems to have that way of thinking and I think we should stop it because honestly, it's just shallow to even think like that.

Besides that, people are also prejudiced based on their age. For an example, a 50 year-old woman gets retrenched at work because she was told that she’s not young enough. Old people might not the qualities that young people possess but at least they have more experience. Yes, old people have the experience that young people do not have. That doesn’t mean that old people are incapable of performing their task well because they’re useless. However, young people get discriminated too.  Apparently, the young ones are too inexperienced and their mind-set is too immature. We should not think like that because some young children are geniuses and they happen to be the smartest people in the world. For instance, Mozart started playing when he was at the age of three, and he had his first symphony at the age of eight. Young people might not have the experience but they’re capable of achieving something great at a young age. This shows that we should not discriminate others based on their age. Everyone is competent to accomplish something, be it at the age of 5 or the age of 80.

On top of that, there is also another form of discrimination where men are often favoured by other people because they are the more capable ones, compared to the women.  Back in the days, women have no rights and status or whatsoever.  Women get discriminated all the time because they are “weak” and just “amateurs”.  What’s worse is women themselves kill girl babies because they prefer boy babies. How shallow is that? Moreover, women can only stay at home and take care of their family while men go out and earn a living. Now, in the 21^st century, women are stronger than before. For an example, America’s no.1 talk show host, Oprah Winfrey was voted as one of the most influential woman in the world. Despite experiencing hardship during her childhood, she continues to be determined to inspire other women in the world. I believe that women are as competent as men and if they were given the opportunity to work instead of staying at home, they could even accomplish much more than men. They can even “shine” brighter than men.

And yes, “discrimination lives within everyone”, but that doesn’t mean we cannot change this mind-set of ours. We should grow up and think like a mature adult. Everyone might be different in their own way but that’s what makes us special. We can’t discriminate others for being special. Everyone should be treated equally and not be prejudiced based on our skin colour, age or our sex. Lastly, living in a multiracial country teaches me to be more open-minded and not be a racist at times. We should not hold grudges and find faults with friends of another race. Instead, we should find out what’s wrong and just try our best to correct it. Even a simple “sorry” can change everything.