Prejudices

Prejudice is like peanut butter - easy to spread, but sometimes hard to swallow.

"I can't stand (particular races)! They're so selfish, lazy and biased towards their own people!"

"I don't give a darn, knowing what she did to my friend. I heard loads of things about her!"

"What! Going out with her?"

We heard such remarks on all sides. So seldom are they based on reason that they may be considered the earmark of the thoughtless, the uninformed, the cruel. They express prejudices.

Let's not confuse prejudices with preferences. It is natural to prefer somethings to others - one's wife, home, country, or religion, for example. Preferences becomes prejudice when we refuse to see the good in anything we happen to dislike. Prejudice isn't reasoned opinion. It condemns without trial. It rejects evidence before facts can presented or considered. It affects our treatment of persons and things, distorts our judgment and works toward our own injury and disadvantage.

Prejudice doesn't pay, either in friends, in self-esteem, or in happiness. Like unfavorable criticism and fault finding, it repels rather than attracts people. Prejudice lessens your enjoyment of life, not only because it keeps you from knowledge and deprives you of many pleasures. It is a poor heritage to pass on to your children, who are bound to build their prejudices around yours. Your hatred of country life, that particular person, perhaps acquired from your parents, friends that shares their view, may prevent yourself from ever knowing the joys of knowing that Nature could have given them. Your prejudice against classical music, perhaps a result of having had to practice the piano when you were a child, may keep you and your children from genuine appreciation and pleasure. Your stubborn prejudice against a certain actor may cause you to miss a fine drama. Your contempt from a race or a religion will narrow your mind and shrink the stature of your soul.
Prejudices can cramp your character and cripple your career. Your call...