NOT BETTER THAN OTHERS

by Nzinga António Guest Contributing Editor

Some years ago, when I still lived in Angola, my native country, I accompanied my father on a visit to someone near the harbor, in Luanda. I was shocked by the poverty. And I remembered the many luxury cars that circulate in the city. The contrast was disturbing. When I talked about this with friends in school, they told me I should get used to it. “That's the way it is,” they said. “There will always be poor people and very rich people. There's nothing you can do.”

But I couldn't agree. I know we are all children of God, and God doesn't have favorite children. He loves all His children the same way. So I couldn't accept my friends’ reasoning, although it looked like they were right. We can help to change the way things are by changing our own way of thinking. After all, society's thought is a sum of all individual thoughts.

Then I noticed that most people treat their fellowmen and women according to the differences between them, instead of looking for their similarities. Based on what is visible, we say that someone of some particular race is superior or inferior. That's what produces racial and social discrimination. And it is the root of prejudice, injustice, and poverty. So I decided to pay more attention to the good traits we all have in common.