There are many times when we probably stop to think about the problems that exist in the world…. And that takes time, because of course there are many of them.
I have an undeniable habit…. I like to analyze people. I am very observant and every time I meet someone (especially if they are known and I can see them often) I like to look at their behaviour, their way of expressing themselves, their way of reacting, and why not, I like to try to find the reason why they are the way they are. I don’t know if it’s freaky, or just a bad habit, but I think it helps me to understand humanity a little more and to be more empathetic and tolerant.
In this small personal study, I have found that the more knowledge ambition, the more cultural competence, and the more perfectionism there is, the less tolerance there is for others. Where’s the limit? In other words… we educate society to learn, to achieve personal and professional goals, which in reality often go hand in hand, but do we forget to educate our feelings?
Of course I speak in a very general way and only based on the small personal study that I have been doing throughout my life. Each personality is a whole world, every person is unique, but it is true that when a child is educated to be ambitious, when he or she grows and develops this personality, they end up forgetting to tolerate perhaps that other people do not give the same importance as he or she to these objectives or that other people do not achieve these objectives as quickly, effectively, or simply do not do so because they cannot. And I think that’s when a lot of them start to fall into the ego trap.
To think that anyone who does not have your knowledge or does not care about it is of a lower level. We are educated as robots, to differentiate the black from the white, the man from the woman, the clever and the fool, the rich from the poor, the superstar from the starred…. But there is a huge range of colours, personalities, salary levels, intelligence and different types of success in life. Where along the way did we forget to teach this to society? Or at what point did we forget?
Day by day I see a lack of tolerance in all kinds of people. With foreigners, with the elderly, with children, with our parents, with animals when we sometimes do not understand that they cannot reason as we do, with the neighbor, with anyone who does not think, act, or learn as we or our known circle. I really believe in learning beyond books. I believe in personal learning, in knowing not only how to live in this world, but also how to share it.Knowing how to make anyone feel that they are living a different life but on the same floor as you, comfortable and understood, is vital for a better life.
Each person lives a personal struggle, each person has lived a story and continues to write his or her biography…
The distinction makes us unique, not better or worse. There is a phrase by Albert Einsten that I love and it goes like this: “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees it will think all its life that it is useless”. It’s as simple as that. Appreciating people’s strengths or abilities is what really helps them progress. Highlighting weaknesses in the form of disdain can create competitiveness (harmful or beneficial), or sink all hope of progress, or cast doubt on one’s worth.
Modesty and tolerance are essential in order not to fall into arrogance and egocentrism. When you stop looking at the other with superiority you realize that there are millions of things you can learn from him too. Virtudes and knowledge that perhaps you do not have or had not learned. That, directly, will lead you to progress and grow personally and culturally, as well as not collaborating with the intellectual humiliation of the other person.
It’s a win-win situation, isn’t it?
The world will change when we know how to admire diversity instead of pointing to it from the top of a pedestal. When instead of criticizing you, I tried to understand you. When instead of judging you for what you do wrong, learn and admire what you do well.
Evolution must be not only cultural, but also psychological and, of course, personal.
Jenifer Ortiz
