"Dumb Jokes", "Women don't belong in a professional setting, they belong in kitchen," "He must be a Jew, just look at his nose." If people don't hear these statements everyday, I am most certain that they hear them very often in our lives. Our own beliefs and principles are generally nurtured by the environment around us, in which we are brought up. Our society governs our perception about others. Often these ideologies and theories are not shared by others, which is why our view might seem implausible and untrue to others. Inaccurate interpretations and conclusions of other sometimes can be very harmful in nature.We see such behavior in the story "Sonny's Blue", by James Baldwin, which takes place in Harlem New York. This story shows us that making assumptions are not the right way to approach someone, and inadequate opinion and judgment about other can also act as a psychological lubricant on someone's behavior. Such inaccurate opinions and interpretations are cal ...view middle of the document...
I've always been a very positive person, until recently an unpleasant incident altered my views on equality and status of a minority in a society; I am Pakistani by nationality and a Muslim by religion. I came to United States to pursue a degree. I thought, because this country has most diversified society, I'll feel at home, but certainly not all of this came out to be true.It was a week after the tragedy of September 11, 2001; I came to my school as usual. During the break between my classes I went to meet up my American friends in cafeteria. As I approached them, I saw them discussing on something, but as soon I came close everybody abruptly hushed up. It seemed like a strange behavior to me, as I considered them all my close friends. I asked them what's wrong, but no one said anything. I didn't give it much attention, and gave my view on the tragedy of September 11 that I was disturbed at the loss of human lives. Then as I was saying this, one of the guys just interrupted me, and he said that don't show us your double standards, we all know that it was "your" people who committed this act of terrorism and cowardice. I was stunned when I heard this. I was so shocked by his comment that for few minutes I couldn't even say anything. I had known this guy for a long time, and he made his assumption in a split of a second about me and other Muslims. And without any support of evidence he criticized not only me, but all the Muslims in world. I left the table without saying anything, and because of his comment, I couldn't sleep all night as his words kept ringing in my ears again and again.I know stereotyping is a general idea, and not very common in our society. But if take a closer look at our society, we'll find out that still our society is very much segregated. Making assumptions and categorizing people can be very harmful, and sometimes it can cause serious damage to human life. As I mentioned earlier that I am very positive person and I always try my best to look at the brighter side of the life. Even though my friend's comment truly hurt my feeling, but it didn't take my faith off from other good friends I made in United States, who have helped me a lot during crucial times.
