... need for respect or understanding?
So many times I have been asked about why I chose to become Muslim. Regardless of my answer, many people were still very much puzzled about my decision, or worse they would not mind displaying contempt toward my decision and call me stupid by merely saying things like: "But you are such an intelligent person..." Yes, they are calling me stupid yet praising me at the same time, but that is contempt fulled by fear and lack of respect.
Converting is nothing easy, and for me it is not just people who change their religion that may be faced with these sorts of attitudes. I have notice that many friends who have decided to adopt a different lifestyle, out of the culturally accepted mainstream lifestyle are just being looked up and down, questioned and finally condemned.
When I converted I face a lot of difficult criticism from family and friends, I lost friends and I gained new ones. When I decided to start a healthier lifestyle, same. Working out 5 days a week and looking after your general diet and food intakes is just as ostracizing as following a different religion. Indeed, your life changes, you acquire new interests, habits, vocabulary, etc. It is as though you enter a subculture, a new reality, a microcosm.
Why is it that people are so judgmental and patronizing about others' decisions? Telling you that you do not know what you are doing and that they know better what is best? I guess the simplest answer is a mixture of toxic ego and disrespect. Why should we have to respect something that does not make sense to us? Why?
That made me ponder about whether it is respect or understanding that should come first. Shall we respect anyone that does not follow the same lifestyle as us? Shall we judge and dismiss people who do not think like us? When do we have to respect and what does it mean to respect without understanding?
As a convert Muslim I often felt that regardless of whether or not they understand my lifestyle, people should respect my choice and not make unpleasant allusions and intolerant jokes about it. I felt the same when I decided to workout and eat healthier foods.
I know a lot of people who choose not to drink alcohol, not to eat junk foods or go vegetarian, vegan or fruitarian etc. go through a get deal of rebuking when others discover their newly or old formed habits. One person's logic is not another's person logic. What works for someone may very well be another person's nightmare. So do we really need to "understand" others in order to respect them?
So many times I have been asked about why I chose to become Muslim. Regardless of my answer, many people were still very much puzzled about my decision, or worse they would not mind displaying contempt toward my decision and call me stupid by merely saying things like: "But you are such an intelligent person..." Yes, they are calling me stupid yet praising me at the same time, but that is contempt fulled by fear and lack of respect.
Converting is nothing easy, and for me it is not just people who change their religion that may be faced with these sorts of attitudes. I have notice that many friends who have decided to adopt a different lifestyle, out of the culturally accepted mainstream lifestyle are just being looked up and down, questioned and finally condemned.
When I converted I face a lot of difficult criticism from family and friends, I lost friends and I gained new ones. When I decided to start a healthier lifestyle, same. Working out 5 days a week and looking after your general diet and food intakes is just as ostracizing as following a different religion. Indeed, your life changes, you acquire new interests, habits, vocabulary, etc. It is as though you enter a subculture, a new reality, a microcosm.
Why is it that people are so judgmental and patronizing about others' decisions? Telling you that you do not know what you are doing and that they know better what is best? I guess the simplest answer is a mixture of toxic ego and disrespect. Why should we have to respect something that does not make sense to us? Why?
That made me ponder about whether it is respect or understanding that should come first. Shall we respect anyone that does not follow the same lifestyle as us? Shall we judge and dismiss people who do not think like us? When do we have to respect and what does it mean to respect without understanding?
As a convert Muslim I often felt that regardless of whether or not they understand my lifestyle, people should respect my choice and not make unpleasant allusions and intolerant jokes about it. I felt the same when I decided to workout and eat healthier foods.
I know a lot of people who choose not to drink alcohol, not to eat junk foods or go vegetarian, vegan or fruitarian etc. go through a get deal of rebuking when others discover their newly or old formed habits. One person's logic is not another's person logic. What works for someone may very well be another person's nightmare. So do we really need to "understand" others in order to respect them?
