A person I deeply know applied for membership to a community for expats who aim to support fellow expats. His primary purpose in joining this community is to grow and serve with his countrymen who are based abroad. He received a rejection letter and the reasons were not clearly stated. We all know for a fact that social discrimination in all colors and flavors still exist. But to get rejected by one's countrymen who are expected to support people of their own is a powerful slap on the face. It's similar to what we call "crab mentality," a metaphor that means "if I can't have it, neither can you."
I do not claim to be all-knowing and perfect but I just want to represent a certain voice of society in this blog post. I want to be that voice that cries out for the people who have been wrongly and unfairly judged ... The people who have been stereotyped according to race, religion, financial and civil status, cultural background, geographical location, societal class, educational and work qualifications, fashion sense ... The list goes on. I want to be the voice of the people on whom full opinions, assumptions and impressions were created based on these stereotypes and half the facts ... Because if I prefer to remain silent and turn a blind eye to the unjust sufferings of my neighbors, this global social problem will persist and trillions will continue to work hard towards their goals of uplifting the world, only to see their dreams crushed by the others.
Humanity, when are we going to learn? When are we going to start accepting and supporting each other towards a better world? By shunning our neighbors, by restricting them to who they are now and not allowing them to be who they want to be and to do what they want to do for themselves and for this world, we are trampling upon the very core of our existence, the foundation of humanity. Every person's potential is not fully realized unless he's given the freedom to do so.
To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. - Nelson Mandela
