It is so easy to judge. As people, we are pretty lax about giving value to things that we don’t fully understand. That is why we often limit the respect we give to others with less money, or education or ability than we may have. However, people born into poverty, lack of opportunity or lack of skills, are not less valuable. If anything, they are the ones that can teach us the most.
We all find it easy to love people like ourselves. We don’t like people to disagree with us. But those are the ones who can teach us to listen, seek common ground and find compromise. Those who look different than we do or have a different background than us, give us an opportunity to learn how to step into someone else’s shoes.
Others, who have less education, can give us the opportunity to find resources that will even the playing field. If one is disabled in some way, another person can look for and find ways to make things more accessible. Every one of us has something to give to the world. When it is hard to figure out what to do in any situation, the key is using whatever one has for the good of others. And it is important to remember that even if it looks or seems like another person has little to offer to oneself, this does not make it true.
Some people think they know the value of another person. But that does not make it true either. We all have limited vision, knowledge and understanding. No one is perfect, not one of us.
If we can find the ways that prejudices impact our thinking, we can expand our capacity to show compassion and learn to have empathy for our fellow human beings. Only then, will we find out why we are all needed to make this world. Only then, will we begin to see the ways we are ALL needed in order to make this a better world for everyone.