A WORLD WITHOUT STRANGERS

I have seen many things, heard many things, touched things and some untouched but have kept trying to touch. There is a world that’s completely unknown to me. Many adventures and lessons to learn are yet to come. But something is confusing. Is it that certain societies are strange to us or is it that we are not known to people? At times I feel that we know the world but it’s just that we have not attempted to reach the lives of people. We are bound by walls. We call some poor, some rich, some young, some old, some capable and incapable and one good and another bad. Yet, interestingly we are all devised with the same heart’s structure, the same brain cartilages, kidneys and the livers. The difference is that in some  may have messed up livers. Some with  hearts without veins. Human action and thoughts are the same. Some liberal, some with bobbled attitudes or very traditional. Some can be  quite aggressive or too generous or stonehearted may be. World is diverse. There are people who only look for the beauty and some who only see the ugly in the world. Among them there is this rare composition who would love to read lines in between both beauty and ugliness. Should one only look for the sweetness in life?  What does bitterness define then? We need both.  That’s what devises a complete man.

Pic By Thilina Brown Dilshan

Many people in the society have walled themselves. They are driven by prejudices.  These prejudices lie in two ways – ignorance and fear. The normal human response towards any person is “pre judgmental”.  We prejudice each other with a limited knowledge, especially if their behavior, or living conditions or the thoughts are different.  On the other hand some people refuse to change their attitudes thinking that they will lose their privilege. People are almost into operating some set standards and keep worshipping and believing them instead of living for what they think is right and wrong. Stereotyping is increasing day by day. People are creating social scripts in their heads about others and the roles that they believe they should play in this socially constructed world.

People don’t like to spend time or may be talk with someone who is lower in status than them. They consider it a dishonor.  People discriminate the rich for falling in love with the poor or the very younger being friends with the very older. Some restrict associating people all because they come from bad surroundings or may be because they’ve overheard bad of them. What can the status, the richness, the poverty or age  do?  We will not take these things with us to graves.  There is nothing called good or bad in people or that they are moral or immoral. We are born human, so we are bound to make errors and bound to think different. One shouldn’t be restricted of whom they would like to associate. One cannot be told of how they should act in society.  We are not perfect to judge others. What is important is to look good in everybody you meet and respect their journey.

We, being ordinary and well off at the least, may not like to deal with “mudukku” (shanties) people. We tend to identify those who come from “mudukkus “and brothels as immoral and corrupted. Even in our times there are people who disfavor homosexuals and P’s or P type (A Sinhala slang) seeing them as absurd or psychotic. Gays and lesbians are not shocking pictures. They’ve been existing since long time. They are a result of certain genetic and environmental factors and nothing to think delirious about them.

I’m not a rich traveler but is Thilina Aiya. He often makes journeys to places by train. “It was 4.30 in the evening. The train was packed with passengers, almost bent to one side” Thilina Aiya said. He has been on his way to Colombo from Panadura. He had been enjoying the sun set through the window, he said. The train has stopped suddenly due to “No Signal” when he saw some kids outside and has made a comic face at them and there it goes the reaction captured by him in a photograph.

The picture may talk a lot but there is something striking. All of us have our own stories on this earth. We all have a position in this world. It’s just that we don’t want to hear another person just because they are poor, immoral, homosexual or racially prejudiced. Everyone may not be good, but there is something good in everyone. Never judge people because every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Judging and criticism will not make the human learn anything new, but would define one’s folly.

I think that there is nothing in the world so inspiring and satisfying to meet people and to explore moments with them, no matter their age, their color, the gender or whether they are good or bad.  There is always something good to know or something unknown to be known behind every smile just as for these little buddies. Even a second spent with somebody unknown will turn to be a known the moment we share portions of each other’s lives. It’s truly enlightening and moving.

So it’s your choice to decide …to unwall yourself or not to...

(Inspired by the photography of Thilina Dilshan Samarawickrama)