May 05, 2016

From Paulo Coehlo

An excerpt from the book Like The Flowing River, posted on Coehlo's blog today:

"I was talking to a Catholic priest and a young Muslim man over lunch. When the waiter came by with a tray, we all helped ourselves, except the Muslim, who was keeping the annual fast prescribed by the Koran.
When lunch was over, and people were leaving, one of the other guests couldn’t resist saying:
“You see how fanatical these Muslims are! I’m glad to see you Catholics aren’t like them.”
“But we are,” said the priest. “He is trying to serve God just as I am. We merely follow different laws.”
And he concluded: “Its a shame that people only see the differences that separates them. If you were to look with more love, you would mainly see what we have in common, then half the world’s problems will be solved.”

Have you ever met someone of a different religion, ethnicity, culture, region or nation and made an instant judgement about them only to find that they were more like you than different from you?


10 comments:

  1. Oh yes, especially when I was young and judgmental! I've learned better since.

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    1. I try not to but some people really do inspire that nasty part of me to climb out of the dark! I try to shove it back in but....

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  2. I can honestly say that whenever I meet someone who is different than me, in any way, skin, hair, faith, gender, gender orientation, ethnicity, my first judgement is that they are fabulous.
    I really celebrate people who appear different than me because, when we get to know one another, I find we are very much alike.

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    1. You are a lot like me, Bob. Differences rev my engine. I also enjoy talking to people who look at things differently than me, I learn so much from them.

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  3. Life is so much more interesting when we include people unlike ourselves.

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  4. Every day. I tend to some up an entire person's life by my two-second interaction with them and that's not fair at all. It's not cool and I try to do a better job because you just don't know what the other person has been through or what they are dealing with. The world would definitely a better place if we tried to find common ground instead what makes us a difference. Take care.

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    1. I try not to do that except when I sit on a bench in a park or mall and watch people walk by. I try to make up interesting stories about them to myself.

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  5. I love diversity and I've always been fascinated by different cultures, religions and whatnot, so I focus on not being judgmental or negative. We are all raised with exposure to prejudice and all that stuff, but it's something we can refuse to adopt or something we can eventually outgrow. Working with a diverse group of people also helps.

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    1. I think a lot of us are judgemental out of habit but once we gain awareness, we slough it off and enjoy the diversity! I thrive on different!

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