“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite,” the late Nelson Mandela, political leader and philanthropist, was once quoted saying.
This holds true for at least a young child in Singapore, who is a classic example of how humans are not prejudiced by nature.
Image source: Facebook screengrab
Taking to a Facebook post (22 Sep), Yang Kaiheng shared that he was “surprised” to see his young cousin engaged in a board game with three foreign workers on the front porch of his aunt’s house when he visited recently.
Apparently, it had been pouring then and they were waiting for the rain to stop.
What stood out to Yang was that his cousin appeared unconcerned by the “irrational but common fears” that many people have in light of the high number of coronavirus cases in foreign worker dorms.
Image source: Facebook/Yang Kaiheng
“She had no hesitation making friends with the workers and it did not bother her at all that they looked different to her. All that mattered were that they were friendly and willing to play games with her,” he wrote.
Yang said he later found out that the foreign workers were engaged for a project at his aunt’s house—and for over a few weeks now.
“My youngest cousin has been regularly interacting with them, offering them drinks and playing board games with them during their breaks,” he shared.
They have in fact gotten pretty close such that his cousin now calls the workers by their names.
Yang later learned from their interaction that his cousin reminded one of the workers of his young daughter whom he misses back home, as both girls are of similar ages.
From this incident, Yang shared his own reflections stating that prejudice towards another is not innate—just like what he observed in his young cousin. Rather, it is “learned subconsciously through the media or our own experiences”.
He highlights the importance of teaching the younger generation kindness, which “will go a long way”.
Likewise for Yang as a parent himself, he too hopes to have the discipline to ingrain these positive values in his son.
You can view his full post here:
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