Acceptance of the others is what makes us humans. In the past, people who were a bit different were also treated as such. Nowadays, however, we are all more open-minded towards those who are not like us, and that’s a good thing having in mind this world belongs to everyone just equally.
If we are about to create harmony, we should embrace the differences, not being ashamed of them, as at the end of the day, it may turn out we are the ones who end up being ‘different’ and not fitting the society’s standards.
The following story is an eye-opener that will make you think about the ways you treat others.
A soldier was finally coming home after having fought in Korea. He called his parents from Los Angeles. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me. “Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”
“There’s something you should know,” the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”
“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.”
Hearing these words coming from his parents, the son ended up the conversation and didn’t call them back in the following days. One day, the phone rang and the parents though it was their son again, but it was the Los Angeles Police that informed them their son was dead. They believed he committed a suicide by jumping off a building.
When these desperate mother and father went to L.A to identify their son’s body, they were left in complete shock when they realized the handicapped person was their son himself. He lost his limbs back in Korea.
We assume the parents must have felt devastated knowing they rejected their own son only because he was now different. The thing is that many of us are likely to act the same way these parents did. But I do hope this story will serve as a lesson that we should all be more open towards other people.