Prejudice means having preconceived notions about some one or to judge some one without actually knowing that person. We all pre judge people and most of the times we do it involuntarily. We judge people according to their reaction towards one particular event. We do not try to think about that person’s behavior in past. E.g. When our friend says something negative about us, immediately we misunderstand him/ her and either start fighting or we stop talking. At this point we should keep our calm and go back to past experiences. We should think what good our friend has done to us and what could be the possible reason of his present behavior. We have to learn to trust people. Lets look at a small story. Once there was a small crab who was walking on the beach. He turned back to see his beautiful footprints. He was admiring them as he was walking. Suddenly a wave from the ocean came and wiped the footprints. The crab said to the ocean “why did u do this? I thought you were my best friend”. The ocean said “ a fisherman was trying to catch you and was following your footprints, so I washed them away my dear!”. The crab was very sorry for doubting his best friend. So we should learn to trust people and give them a fair chance.
When we meet strangers we often judge them on the basis of their belongings(car, house), brand of clothes, looks and even on their skin colour. Like a popular saying goes “don’t judge a book by its cover”. At times a very ordinary looking person wearing very ordinary clothes can be a scholar. E.g.: we know Mother Teresa. She wore very simple clothes, but her contribution towards humanity was enormous. There are several examples of great people who were under estimated because of their simplicity. Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda shook the world with their teachings, but when the western people saw their simple clothes and skin colour, they insulted them. Mahatma Gandhi had a 1st class train ticket while travelling in South Africa but because of his skin colour he was ejected out of the train.
At times we also see poor people , wearing shabby clothes, we tend to ignore them, detest them instead of helping them. May be if we give them opportunities they can prove helpful to the community. Instead if we misbehave with them, a kind of hatred will develop inside them towards the society which can force them towards doing antisocial deeds.
At the end of the day we should remember that God has created everyone. Everybody has some good and bad qualities. We should learn to love every creature and help people who lack opportunities. If we spread love, we will get back love!
We should also remember this that before judging a person or reacting to his actions, we should give them a chance and learn to believe them. Be it strangers or our own friends, we have to trust them before doubting, love them before hating and understand them before judging!