Yes. Classifying people in the true way; my way, and in case you are
thinking that this is the same divisive things we have always had for ages,
tone down for a moment and read to the bottom before judging me to be a racist,
tribalistic or whatever you want to call me; with the word idiot at the end.
Before I lay down my own classification of people, I would
like to outline the limitations of the previous parameters people look at when
dividing themselves into different groups and barricading themselves with
surrounding walls; tribes, professions, race and religion being the most
important.
Tribalism is one of the commonest and rampant ways in which
people are segregating each other to the disadvantage of many. In our own
country, Malawi, tribal extremists have resorted to building up of barriers
surrounding themselves and letting everyone else out in the form of nepotism.
People would single out some tribes, but let us face it; everyone is doing it.
I will cite an example of what happened in my class.
One day we were told to
identify themselves by the tribe, say their own opinion on their tribe and then
let others say what they thought about their tribe. You can guess what
happened. It was only one tribe that received positive comment from the others
and the heat was so much in the house that the only reason people didn’t
exchange blows was that it was a class full of intellectuals. The word nepotism
was not in short supply for that and it reflected the situation on the ground.
This is how tribalism has taken root among us. People are getting jobs not
based on competence but on their surname and every person smart enough to read
this knows how detrimental that is.
Racism. I don’t have to talk much about this as it is
clearly present everywhere. It is only here in Malawi that this ”racism” works
to the best of expatriates in which case we give them an unmerited high regard
than fellow Malawians. Elsewhere things are different and the there are various
forms of racial segregation.
Talking the issue of religion, I don’t have to cite examples
to avoid portraying an image that I am attacking someone else. The world has
become so messed up that people can have dedicated institutions aimed at
castigating a religion or denomination. For centuries people have killed and
slaughtered one another in the name of God, and I am not talking of the time
before Christ.
So, what common limitation does this segregation bring? It
ignores the fact that there is beauty in diversity in the human race and
ignores the existence of diversity itself. Big mistake. We have to understand
that diversity exists and will always exist and it is not only wrong, but also
impractical to force others to be like us in ideology and everything else.
Having laid that ground I would like to lay down this
classification of people which is completely flawless. One which takes the
existence of diversity into consideration.
How are people classified, then? Issue is that there two
groups of people in this world. Only two namely ordinary people and
extraordinary people. I must say that however you think of people, whatever
grouping you may put them in, you will always find some ordinary people and
some extraordinary people.
Ordinary people? These ones look for people who are leading
things in the group they think they belong to and they follow. The hardly
contribute to anything in the societies they belong to, be it religious,
academic or tribal. They live and do the routines and that is all.
Extraordinary people on the other hand are the ones who
shake up things in any sort of grouping. They might not be the ones in
positions of power but they always make sure that they contribute something to
the things that concern them. They are the think tanks who lead the blind
followers called ordinary people.
Why should you bother knowing this classification? The
undeniable truth is that there are these people in any grouping you can think
of. When you are in any grouping of people you also fall into either class of
people and it is good to choose to associate with and above all to be in any
grouping.
Being extraordinary means that you can be a leader even when
not in a position, but when the ideas go to the extreme or when the grouping is
not formed for the good intent, being extraordinary can bring fanaticism which
brings the issues I talked about as limitations to the other classification.
People lose a sense of diversity. When people use these awesomeness of being
extraordinary the good way, however, they impact many lives breaking the barriers
that others may lay down with their segregative minds
The implication of being ordinary is the exact opposite.
Leaders can either bring you up or exploit you depending on the cause or reason
of association.
It is good, therefore to know where to be ordinary and where
to be extraordinary; when to associate with the ordinary and when to associate
with extraordinary. When to use your status of being ordinary or that of being
extraordinary.
Main message: in everything good, refuse to be an ordinary
person.
No comments:
Post a Comment