By Jake H.
In Island, Aldous Huxley said “Snakes have a right to compassion too.”
An odd statement perhaps, but it hit home. I interpreted it as everyone, no matter how different, has an equal right to an opinion, no matter how wrong I think they are.
After I read Huxley and came to that conclusion, an idea that I had been familiar with my whole life suddenly became completely lucid. That idea was of human equality, whether it is equality of status or equal right to personal perceptions.
Throughout my day I find myself jealous of, resentful at, or irritated by somebody for doing something that I find distasteful. I lose any sense of the idea that the person, wrong or not, is entitled to their opinion or view just as much as I am. I become angry at another person because their view does not comply with mine, which plainly means that I believe that I am more entitled to an opinion than they are. Hypocrisy at its finest, right?
This hypocrisy, I believe, is something that every human being on this planet is familiar with on a day-to-day basis; some more than others.
When I succumb to this lie, I have the false idea that my perception of life is the only right perception and should be regarded as such. When opposition to my view is presented, up goes the pride and down comes the veil over my eyes. I instantly defend my view and become opposed to any other, perhaps in fear that I might realize that I am in fact wrong or only partially right.
Failure to acknowledge the fundamental fact of equality in life is the gateway to misery and discontent. When we focus so hard on whether or not one is right or wrong, we miss out on the person. We dismiss any chance that they might be right and set ourselves up for a resentment. That resentment may not only be felt with the original person, but also with others who hold similar views. The resentment then builds and builds until it is unrecognizable, and then it is really hard to rid of.
Chances are that if we took the things that perturb us during our day and take a honest, non biased look at them, we would find the quarrel is due to the lack of our acknowledgment of equality. We need to keep in mind that no matter who is right or who is wrong the subject disputed remains unchanged. For example, if I were to argue that an object is a circle and someone else argues it is an oval, no matter who is right, the object is what it is. When we fail to “live and let live” we go through life unhappy.
If one looks back through time, the most prevalent ideas and philosophies have dealt with human equality or lack of human equality. For example, religion. In Christianity, Jesus preaches all men are created equal. In Islam, Muhammad says the same thing. The Buddha says “Tat Tuam asi” or “Thou are that” meaning that we are all the same and therefore equal.
Hitler, on the other hand, approached human equality from another direction. He used the idea of human inequality to convince a whole nation to attempt to take over the world and establish the superior race.
These religions and philosophies all preach the same idea because it is one of the key aspects of life and it solves an infinite number of problems. Name a problem and chances are that it can be linked to the lack of acknowledgment of human equality.
I believe that this is one of the difficult obstacles to finding happiness in everyday life. We base our lives on whether or not we are right or wrong and miss out on what life actually is. We need to keep in mind that not everybody perceives things in the same way, yet we all have an equal right to understanding.
