Today I had the chance to hear Vinoth Ramachandra in person. He spoke in University Malaya on the topic Respecting Persons In A Pluralist Society. He touched on many things. Most are too long to be discussed on this post. A few things he highlighted struck me. One of it is people living in a pluralist society like Malaysia need to make sacrifices in order for respect to take place. He's not saying about sacrifices like dying for another person but simple everyday things that had already made many tick with anger or contempt. Recently there is the big fuss by PAS demanding for the ban of Sisters in Islam (SIS). Such arrogance is a classic case of not making the sacrifice in regards to respecting others in the society. We may disagree with others in the society in terms of belief, philosophy and etc. but are we willing to sacrifice our arrogance. To demand that others must adhere to what we believe and not being given the option to decide for themselves is definitely not the way. This is such a simple truth. Yet so many of us are not able to understand and practice it. The very fact that God gave us free will tells us that He doesn't intent to coerce us into submission but rather prefers willing decisions made by our own hearts and minds. Somehow there are still many others that are bend on doing everything in their power to destroy this very essence on being human. He also mentioned that there is much value in our diversity. The value of our humanity is in the value we put on other fellow human beings. Let us start by asking ourselves how much am I willing to sacrifice for respecting others?
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