For the human being, there is the deep-seated belief that we are the best version there could be. We never want to consider, even for a moment, that maybe there is a better way than ours. This is not as simple as having a healthy self-esteem. In fact, there is nothing healthy about this bull-headed sense of our own rightness and perfection. Every other person needs to change but not us.

I am a Christian; anybody who isn’t has not found THE WAY

I am Yoruba, any other tribe is inferior

I am a man, people of the other gender should submit to me

I am married, singles should give me due respect solely for that reason

I am a lawyer/attorney; I am the only learned fellow

I am a soldier; every other person is a bloody civilian

I am a journalist, every other person is uninformed

I am a mother, barren women hardly qualify as women

I am rich, poor people are lazy slobs

I am slender, overweight people are gross

I am heterosexual, homosexuals should be hanged

We instinctively believe that there is something inherently defective in those unlike us. They are incomplete, they have a screw missing, they are faulty projects completed in a hurry.

A task we are not ready to undertake is to consider that there doesn’t have to be one perfect example of specie.

 That a Christian and a Muslim just have a different interpretation of the same God.

That a man complements a woman much the same way a woman complements a man.

That a journalist needs uninformed people for him to remain relevant and in business.

That though a lawyer could be learned, he may not know the intricacies of his car the way an auto-mechanic does.

That having children of one’s own blood is not what qualifies a woman for the title of mother.

That marriage never adds to people’s intelligence quotient.

That the gay guy you so much despise was a victim of sexual abuse of such an extent you couldn’t have survived.

That the so called deficiencies we see in others are simply another form of expression that add colour and flavour to this world we have such a short time staying at.

Free yourself. Embrace diversity. Appreciate differences.

We are all unique.

We all are entwined in a way we cannot explain. We need each other to excel and no matter how superior you think you are, you cannot survive alone.

Learn to accommodate people and also view the world from the eyes of another. It makes the world a beautiful place.

by Olusola Alli