The Train Ride Home III

NOTE: I have posted these writings on another forum. For those who have read them before, please bear with me.

For continuity, please start with "The Train Ride Home" followed by "The Train Ride Home II".

Thanks.

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For a moment I wondered if the father knew what he was doing would destroy the psyche of his daughter. I could clearly view that she tried so hard to please him. To each attempt she tried, he only gave her a cold shoulder.

I don't want to be presumptious but I reckon some (not all) parents prefer a son over a daughter and vise versa. The gender preference causes a split among siblings and ultimately destroys harmony in a family. The less fortunate child feels unworthy because his or her value is connected to how much they sensed that they are loved by their parents. If either or both parent shows signs of rejection, the level of self-confidence drops as the child grows up.

Do you know the story of "Sit Ting San and his father?" General Sit Yan Guai was a brave and famous general and he was blessed with a boy and a girl. In a dream it was prophesised that his son Sit Ting San would kill him with a bow and arrow. Therefore he brought up Ting San as a scholar and his daughter as a warrior. Ting San aspired to follow his father's footstep as a warrior to be in service of the Emperor. But General Sit feared that his son would end up taking his life so barred him from touching any weapons and he could only study. On the other hand General Sit also wanted a child to be in service of the Emperor and so forced his daughter to train in the army camp. However this poor girl hated to be treated as a man and she yearned to be the precious lady-like and soft spoken girl.

I love this story because it simply depicts how parents believe that they know best and refused to listen to their children. I am not saying that a child should rebel but a child should be given a right to speak and to be heard. Of course the final decision remains with the parents still.

Very often the persons who discriminate do not realise their own wrong doings. More so they are not aware that their actions are hurtful. Even more devastating if they know what they are doing but condone their misdeeds with the false belief of "This is my life so I can do what I like. If you don't like what I am doing, tough luck."

I personally believe that it is very mean and selfish for anyone to pick and choose on others based on classifications. The more advance we are the more reasons to discriminate. By this I mean humans classify each other by looking at differences. This is the danger. Someone who evaluate others based on let's say the clothes they wear will favour those who dress the same and alienate the unfashionable peasants. But the peasants equally believe that those who spend thousands of dollars on a shirt are absolutely nuts.

The argument is instead of spying on the differences let's accept that we are not the same and live together happily. We have to agree to disagree. It is a mistake, I think to try to force everyone to treat each other as the same. I don't think that is a humanly possible idea because the fact remains we are world's apart.

Therefore we must respect each other's lifestyle, culture, tradition, religion and choices as much we respect ours. We have to be considerate and avoid performing acts that upset others.

To be realistic, I know that it is difficult to abstain from exercising favoritism but we must do so only after much consideration and to ensure that no one is hurt in the process. One must be selfless and to be so, it requires sacrifice.

Instead of selecting this person over the others, perhaps one should learn to like each and everyone as a unique individual with all his or her imperfections.

After all no one is perfect; including the one who discriminates, the one BEing discriminated and the one who is writing this message.

Ciao!