Unity in Diversity

That morning I walked into the office to deliver my papers, looking confident, smiling, feeling a little bit taller and nicely dressed. My trouser said it all, was really ironed, it was really worked on. At the reception there was this beautiful lady and in this case the word beautiful is not relative, she was really beautiful, gave me more confidence to do my stuff, I mean drop my paper.  So I embraced myself, forced a smile and said

 “Hallo, my name is Edwin and I am here to drop my application letters,”

Then I waited to her voice, nothing came, it was as if I spoke some Chinese or something, but coz of my coutesy, I decided to go again,

 “Excuse me I’m Edwin and I am here to drop my paper,”

Then she finally lifted her head and looked at me,

 “I know your name you have mentioned it already, you think I am deaf or what, can’t you see am doing something else. There is a seat, sit and wait”, then her small head was lowered again.

Was it my voice? Did I say something wrong? Why was she so offended, I used the word excuse if I remember well. Was it my breath?  It can’t be, coz I double checked that before uttering a word. I must have done something wrong. As I was in these deep thoughts heading to the seat I was pointed to, another gentleman walked in and went right ahead at the desk of the lady, my mind rushed, I should warn him about the moody beautiful lady. Maybe I should let him know he has to wait at the seat and at least not say his name twice, but before I could do anything, I heard the lady say,

“Hallo sir, how may I help?”

“I’m here to drop my documents for the application”,

“Ah okay then please wait in the seat then I will collect them right away”

“Thank you very much madam you are so kind”

Did he just say she was kind! Really? This wasn’t happening.  How can he say she is kind after the way she talked to me? What was the difference in the guy’s approach from mine, in fact I was nicely dressed than him. I looked taller and handsome, so am told, but that’s not the point, the point is she was not nice to me. I was almost going back to enquire why I was treated differently, then it hit me right there, in the head actually. The picture was unveiled and I could see the reasons passing right in front of my eyes, he was ‘white’. Did I say white, yes he was white not an African but American.

That even made it worse for me, why was he being treated differently from me, why was he special than me. At first I even thought that maybe they knew one another or they are colleagues, but no, he was just from a brighter continent than mine. This made me mad, sad and for sure I left the office. Who would like to stay in a place surrounded by racism from your own race? This lady preferred him to me; did he deserve the services than I, what was different from the two of us?

When I left the offices I was reminded of my childhood, I could see myself running with excitement to greet the white sisters from the catholic church in my home area shouting the name ‘muzungu’ they were special to us coz they looked different, in fact they were better than us coz of their color, that was more than 15 years ago, but then I grew up and interacted with some of them and realized they were just like us. They didn’t have some super power that we thought they did have; they didn’t possess two hearts, or green blood. Their hair grew longer but still it wasn’t golden or something worth a lot of billions, they were just different in their physical appearances. I realized as I kid I had idolized the white race, and make them look super special, yet there was nothing really special about the color. This lady made me so mad and embarrassed to be an African, but again I was glad that I didn’t have the same mentality.

Racism is something old fashioned and we Africans we have encouraged it by mistreating our very own based on the preference of the other race. We are all equal in the eyes of God, black or white, our humanity don’t dwell in the color of our skin. Whether you are black or white, heaven is for all and hell too. There won’t be a section for the whites in heaven or the blacks. Here on earth we might treat one another differently but remember in heaven we are all the same.

Our nature as human beings has nothing to do with color. Our color is just to bring the diversity in the humanity based on the geographical origin, but the truth of the matter is we are all special and equal and we deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. If you view the African race as inferior then look for me I will prove you wrong, and if you think the white race is better than the others then wake up from your slumber.  We might be people in different color, but we are all one people, and it will take diplomatic, patriotic and mature mind to see it this way. Think like this lady at the office then you become my special enemy. Let us boost our thinking and grow up eventually, black or white, we are all human.

Wake up let journey on….