By Shih Hwa Du
Did you ever wonder why, although we each have ears, eyes, noses, and mouths, we all look so distinctly different? This is also true of our personalities, our thought processes, our likes and dislikes, and our beliefs and disbeliefs. Often we view the world with suspicious eyes, feeling we have been treated unfairly. We count the change we receive, we comment on the smaller portion of rice we got from the canteen. We battle against unreasonable odds but the truth is, the battle is within ourselves. But there’s another way to look at things. We can alter our attitudes and begin to act positively and constructively. We can learn to see value in situations that appear negative (the smaller portion of rice is good for my figure, reduced calorie intake!) and attempt to come to terms with the world and all its imperfections. The fundamental step is to accept the premise that there is more to life than yourself. We are not the center of the universe. We are not the judge of what’s good and what’s not. All of us, on some level, harbor prejudices and biases. If only we would consider the proverb: “Don’t judge a man until you have walked many moons in his moccasins.” I myself am prone to making snap judgments about others based upon how they look, how they dress, or how they speak. During my three years at NTU, I have found a fallacy in these suppositions. I discovered the plainest, dullest girl with those geeky one-inch thick, gold-rimmed spectacles manages to have the wildest weekends and manages to lure a dozen boyfriends (we live in such a cruel world!). Sometimes we say things without thinking, and we have no intention of being offensive to our listeners. In my freshman year, one of my closest friends said to me, in front of our other friends, “Gee…Shih Hwa’s bust is so small, I wish mine were just like hers!” At the time I was deeply hurt. She didn’t do this deliberately to cause me pain, but it hurt anyway. But now I am more open and honest about my own feelings. There is a difference between being judgmental and understanding ourselves. When I look around me, I think many still don’t understand themselves. My dad always tells me, “you have to learn to love yourself before you can love others.” This sentence basically sums up what I am trying to say. It is only when we can understand ourselves that we can fully begin to devote ourselves to others. We are truly listening with an open mind and an open heart when we listen without prejudice to the stories of other people; when we try to identify with what they have to say, rather than continually comparing our differences; when we are courteous and attentive even to those persons who seem to have nothing to offer. #Volume 6 Issue 4 a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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