It was a lazy Sunday morning,when I woke up too late n rushed to see what was in Sunday times…Holding a coffee
mug in my hand ,the flavour of pure coffee enjoyed by the tastebuds and the slow music of the prayer that is played every morning at my house was a complete bliss.The Sunday times is something that I really love to read as its full of my favourite topics to read-mind over matter,the comic stripes and all…As I rushed to take the paper my eyes got caught by the pretty n pure souls-little kids ,the newly born kids ..so many pretty faces..as I saw that I couldn’t resist myself to read what was written regarding them..When I read I was left up with tears in my eyes as it stated that they all were HIV victims..Later I went to the rehabilitation centre where I found many kids were abandoned and left by their own parents that their kids are the HIV victims .Its so sad that still how many such people are there who think such way??
Accepting someone who is different into our midst means having to stand up to others who are prejudiced and getting them to change their mindset.
Recently we heard that five
children who were HIV positive were forbidden from going to school because of the stigma and fear other people had of their disease. Parents of children without the disease, threatened to withdraw all their children, if these children were allowed to stay on at school.
How did this make you feel? Were you angry that educated adults could treat children this way? Or did you also feel that they should be barred from school?
None of us can imagine the
violence these children faced when they were shown such rejection. The voices they heard within them said, “go away” ”you are worthless” “you don’t belong here” “you are not like us” “we don’t want you here” “your presence scares us”. Along with the voices came the angry looks, the scorn, the contempt and the closed school gate. We may not realise it, but this kind of rejection and exclusion is a horrible form of violence. Why do we exclude someone from our groups in such a violent way? Why do we make them feel unwanted and unworthy of being human? They may be children or adults who are HIV positive, or they may be fat or very short or wear thick glasses or just seem a little slower than the rest of the class to understand. Why do we deliberately exclude them from our group activities and other relationships which we enjoy.Basically, we exclude people with a disease like HIV, because our minds are filled with superstitions, fears and doubts. Some of the fears are unscientific and completely irrational. We worry “If my child sits next to a HIV positive or leprosy afflicted child, will she/ he get infected too?” For others whom we exclude, we do it because they are in some way different from us.
We think “If they are not like us, then they can’t be as good as us. So let’s send them away.”
It is easier to exclude and build a wall between us and those we wish to isolate than to find the largesse of heart and gentleness to include them. Accepting them into our midst means standing up to others who are prejudiced and changing their mindset. And that is difficult work as they will then exclude us too. So we find violence easier than gentleness.We have forgotten what it means to be human. That hearts ache for relationships, compassion and love and are hurt deeply when cast aside, especially when those hearts already have so much painto bear. We have not understood that the violence of exclusion can be deeply painful because as human beings one of our basic needs is to be accepted in groups. So the next time you read about, hear or are tempted to exclude someone from your life, think of what it would feel like if this were done to you.
Please give yourself time and think from your heart genuinely and truly keeping yourself in the above picture and project yourself that what will be your mindset and I know you will have all your answers!!pleople please ponder over genuinely..