‘… they don’t turn to God who makes us wise, wiser than any animal or bird’
(Job 35:11)
It is very difficult to establish whether someone is wise until he has done or said something. At time many people are judged by what they say or do and depending on the judgment, the impression may either lead to respect or dejection.
I am therefore stressing respect to human diversity in relation to culture and that which is regarded as Wisdom.
Before one can claim to respect human diversity, the first step is to establish the difference; determine whether that difference is natural, acquired or just another kind of a lifestyle.
We should all note that naturally there are things which, unless by the work of science, they can not be changed completely. Things like Religion, Race, Color and a lot more in that relation. Any attempt to change any of them result into war and the ransom is peace from the two parties.
Every society and individual has what is regarded as wisdom. In Africa there are certain things which are done but can not be easily appreciated by a foreigner unless when the meaning is confided to him.
Talking of modern religions, one would say African were pagans during the pre-colonial periods. But a closer study of the African setting reveals that most Africans had a religious setting more similar to modern religions. In fact there is a slim line in the practices! I always ask my Moslem friends who challenge me to defect from Christianity to Islam, about what they would feel if I also called them to join Christianity. I tell them that when you call someone a pagan, believe also that you are a pagan in his eyes! So what is good for the goose should also be good to gander! And that is what we ought to do.
The best thing would be to understand what the other party is doing and appreciate it. For instance, no body can change someone’s race or tribe. Any attempt just intensifies hatred and it is against human peace.
There are things which some society may keep as sacred just because it holds some hidden secret. For instance, to a Moslem, the holy book must not be translated from Arabic, reason? Arabic is the language of the prophet! So any attempt to translate the Quran can be easily regarded as an insult to the Islamic Community. To the Buddhists and the Roman Catholics, pictures must always be there to complete the holiness of the place of worship!
In all what is said here, I maintain that to reduce resentment, hatred and create lasting peace, we should always do things as we please, but respecting the human diversity.
There is no way one can claim to love his neighbor when all what he does is to create a warring environment. Divisions are good only for our destruction. But again there is no way we can all be similar; We can not think alike, our languages are still not the same, not even our dreams are similar!
The only things we share are origin and goal! We all originated from one God and it is to him that we shall go –that is if you believe in the life hereafter!
Let not money and power destroy human kind. Uganda we have a saying that ‘Omusirusiru attema ettabi kw’atuude.’ Literally translated as ‘A fool will cut a branch on which he is seated.’ We tend to forget that the people we hate are the ones holding our peace.
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