Is it human nature to be prejudiced?

I confess. I'm a non-practicing real estate agent. But, just because I know longer work in the industry, doesn't mean that I'm not sensitive to comments about agents and their ethics. After all, I have lots of friends who are agents, and I've invested most of my adult in the industry.

Sitting in a coffee lounge this afternoon, I overheard two gentlemen discussing real estate. There were bits and pieces of the conversation entering and leaving my awareness, but the bit that caught my attention most went something like; "oh, he's a real estate agent. You'd expect him to..." It got me thinking about the way humans tend to categorise others and the way this leads to prejudice. After all, it's easy to attribute traits to another person on the basis of the colour of their skin, where they're from, their religious beliefs, or their sexual preferences. It takes little thought and conveniently explains behaviour that would otherwise take effort to understand.

The problem with thinking that categorises is that, if it can be proven that just one person out of a population does not share the expected traits, then it cannot be concluded that all will display the trait. Why is this important? It means that each person is a unique human being, independent of their inherited body or chosen religious beliefs. We can each make individual choices about our actions, our behaviour, our attitude, and our future free from the influence of our past. In that regard, we are all equal and deserve to be treated fairly, impartially, and respectfully, without being burdened by the poisonous filter of prejudice.

If we can look beyond the physical, we will see that we are all Jews and all Muslims. We are all Christians and all pagans. We are all black and all white. All Asian and all Hispanic. In each is all and in all each. By looking at one another as though we're looking at ourselves we break down the need for anger and violence, fighting and wars knowing that we hurt ourselves while hurting another.

Let's try letting go of prejudice.