I would like to apologise for my prolonged absence from the
blog. My health and a full diary have prevented me from being able to write to
you more often, but I hope insh’Allah that I will be able to discuss with you as
friends more often from now on.
This series of blogs, I’ve named it Perceptions, but in
reality it should be called Misperceptions.
It all started when I was at a workshop about children in conflict
zones. After preparing a presentation, I
decided to change my talk 180 degrees. I felt our discussion was looking only
at the symptoms as opposed to finding the root cause of the problem. It was a
Catch 22 situation.
With regards to perceptions and misperceptions, I want to
ask you a few questions. If you hear about a Muslim man having four wives, what
would you say? If you hear about a Mormon man with 35 wives, what would be your
reaction? How about a man from the Dinka tribe with 67 wives? Finally, how do
you feel when you hear about a Western man having 10 girlfriends?
Perceptions are developed according to our upbringing and
culture. These factors can make us not accept other ways of thinking. Only when we will understand the other person’s
values, culture and beliefs, we will become less judgemental and an asset to
our community.
To be continued...
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