It takes real courage to examine your heart for prejudice and honestly report the findings. That’s because all of us, and I do mean 𝘢𝘭𝘭, make bad judgements based on scant or faulty information, extrapolating the characteristics of a single individual or a limited experience onto a whole ethnic group or population.
Sometimes our prejudices are so subtle or deeply rooted that we can’t even recognize them, let alone remove them.
The prophet Jeremiah, who was never one to mince words, said it thus: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”
As a starting point, I decided to scour my memory and make a list of the prejudices that I’ve witnessed firsthand, both in others and in myself. Here’s what I found:
• A kind and intelligent woman, now passed, who despised the Japanese because she lost a dear friend at Pearl Harbor and could never forgive “them.”
• A man, outspoken with his views, who was prejudiced against Jews. (No reason was ever given.)
• A woman from Massachusetts who thinks all “Southerners” are ignorant and racist.
• A man prejudiced against fat people because he assumed their condition was due to laziness or lack of self-control. (He himself, of course, was slender and fit.)
• A white man who preferred not to congregate (as in church) with blacks. He was aware of his prejudice (even confessed it to me) and claimed he wanted to rid himself of it.
• A man who looked down on the French, whom he called “frogs,” because he’d had a bitter work experience with a French manager.
• A young black woman from New York who despised whites because they’re all racists.
• A man who labeled Christians as “universally ignorant” and “probably evil.”
• And finally, a writer friend of mine, who bluntly told me, “New Englanders are stingy.” (I took particular exception to this, since my wife is from New England and one of the most generous people I know.)
Sometimes I’ve encountered prejudice (I’m tempted to call it “stinkin’ thinkin’”) that’s cloaked in innocence or even flattery. For example: Italians are great cooks. The Russians love their vodka. Or Asians are good at math.
Aren’t these also forms of prejudice? That is, prejudging other people according to their nationality and placing unrealistic expectations on them?
If you should take a look in the mirror and discover that you’re prejudiced in one way or the other, the next step becomes obvious:
Open-heart surgery.
While you may be able to perform the operation yourself, the chances are better when you pray about it, ask forgiveness, and entrust the scalpel to God.
FRIDAY BONUS: “I don’t discriminate. I hate all people equally.” — Mark Twain
