Saturday, August 4, 2007

2. The Way People Live Together

" All for one and one for all!"
Today's world population is made up of a mixture of different kinds of people of various races, religions and customs. Not only the human race is separated by "dissimiliar" skin colour or the language they speak but also shunned by others because of social stigmas, their disabilites and financial gap between rich and the poor.

From ancient history, Greek people of different cities fought each other to gain fame and fortune to the latest international disputes between the Palestine people and the Israelites and the social discrepancies in Iraq between the Shiite and Sunni tribes after the US occupation, people just can seem to live in peace with each other. It seems unavoidable as long as people exist, there will always be war, pain and destruction as proven during World War I and World War II. However, more and more people are beginning to realise from their mistakes in the past and are trying their best to remedy the situation. After World War II, the United Nations was formed to establish and promote peace among the 193 nations in the world. Since it was founded in 1945, the United Nations has successfully solve numerous social discrepancies for people of different nations to live together harmoniously including the abolishment of aparteid in South Africa. Many nations from the West and East are willing to sit side by side on the conference table to set aside their differences and work on a road map to achieve peace in the Middle East instead on the war field.

History also has shown that although people tend to shun others who are different from them, they are still those who are willing to sacrifice everything to achieve social equality and peace among all races regardless of their social background. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. are great examples of such people. Martin Luther King, Jr. is regarded as one of America's greatest orators who fought and promoted equal rights and equal treatments for different races in a peaceful manner. King's most influential and well-known public address was the "I Have A Dream" speech which was delivered from the steps of Lincoln Memorial at Washington D.C. Unfortunately, all three of them were assasinated by fanatics who where either racist or radical. Their deaths only spur more people to join their cause and were important in making the world we live today.

Malaysia, for instance, is the perfect example, to show that it is not only possible but a reality that people of different skin colour, language groups, culture and beliefs can live together peacefully. Although Malaysia has yet to achieve racial integration as visioned by its government, Malaysians has the very least proven that through understanding and toleration, a strong multiracial country can exist and strive in this world of hate and racism. In Malaysia, the people not only know each other customs well but also visit and mingle with each other during the major festivals such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Gawai and Pesta Menuai. Such occasions are the time to celebrate and strenghten ties betweem the diverse ethnics in Malaysia. Everyone in Malaysia is bound to have friends from different races and do not be surprise if their best friends are from a different race!

There is still a lot to achieve before people can really live together without discrimination of any kind. In a nutshell, it is very hard to winkle out discrimination. Even if people are willing to compromise and consent living with other races, it is not anomalous there will still be people who will be shunned not because of race or religion but because they are just different or special like ex-criminals, drug addicts, mental patients, AIDS carrier and even poor people. Society tend to think such people are useless to them and are abetted by the their narrow mindness. Consequently, the drug addicts and criminals then return to their previous ways, the poor get poorer since nobody wants them and the vicious cylcle continues. Nevertheless, there are positive signs that people are changing and through campaigns and the media, the community is more aware of their plight and is willing to give them a second chance to live together again with the rest of the society, as it is human to err.

Although it seems impossible, but if everyone is to accept a paradigm shift that people can live together and lend a hand to fight racism and abhor discrimination of any sort, then a world where people can live together in harmony like in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech which he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character " may actually come true.

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