by Dulangi Dahanayake

Created on: August 13, 2010

Enjoying the right to be different

Imagine a world full of people conforming to society's norms, placidly accepting rules? Theirs would be a sorry state of mere existence not living as we know it.

The general behaviour of people when they meet a ‘different’ person is governed by a feeling suspicious. Most of us have a generally favorable view of ourselves and the interaction with a ‘different’ person causes us to question ourselves whether they are ‘better’ than us. This is hard for us to fathom and hence we make up our minds that their difference causes them to be inferior and looks down upon them.

A person who in any aspect is ‘different’ to the majority of people that he or she encounters is bound to receive verbal and non-verbal cues from the crowd that makes him ‘feel’ the difference. Humans are social animals and the disapproving peers cause them to react in different ways. This might either be by further withdrawal into oneself and trying to conform to the standards or by efforts to make the differences obvious by adopting an ‘I don’t care’ attitude.

Both the above behaviors cause those ‘different’ people to bury their true selves, which is indeed a shame. It is the uniqueness of individuals that make up an interesting and productive society, but few of us hesitate to show our disapproval of ‘different’ people.

It may be at school, the supermarket or working place, but many of us manage to pick up and act on our differences. Few realize that we may, on another occasion be the ones who are ‘different’. It may be our gender, race or religion that causes this or maybe an illness or handicap. But the end result is the same. We feel their rejection and disapproval.

It takes courage and self esteem to accept our true selves and live with, nay show off the advantages of our differences and this should start at home by mutual acceptance of family members; this will make it easier for us to accept our peers! It will also help us build our self esteem and be ourselves regardless of our differences. So the next time you see a person struggling to fit in lend him a helping hand; show him that he is accepted for what he is and encourage him to be himself. It will give you a great opportunity to experience the flavour of a different personality which no doubt will enlighten your life as well as his.

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