Animals, Children and Prejudice

Many times I have made the remark: "To judge a person's character put them in a room with either a small child or an animal. Then, watch the reaction of the child or animal. There will be no shades of gray. The child or animal will either accept or reject that person based on pure instinct.

When young children play together they do not harbor any prejudice. Plain and simple, children are children. All they see is just another friend or another playmate.

Prejudice is a learned behavior. If a child's parents display the ignorance of prejudice they will eventually mimic that behavior.

As humans we are considered to be the at the top of the food chain. Our brains are capable of many functions. We can think, we can reason, or at least this is what we have been told throughout most of our lives. Science is learning more and more about the animals that are beneath us. Some believe they too may share the traits of thinking and reasoning.

Toddlers and animals also share something most of us adults have lost - innocence and the absence of prejudice. They do not prejudge. They do not carry any preconceived notions.

There seem to be three major forms of prejudice in human beings: racial, sexual and ethnic.

If we watch young children together in a group consisting of different races, sexes and ethnicities the primary prejudice that might be displayed would be sexual, each gender staying together. But I believe this is not prejudice but just a natural grouping at that age.

I believe prejudice is born out of ignorance. Ignorance of someone's culture or simply of a people they really don't know on a more intimate level. This is perhaps fostered by stereotypes that are so far from the true representation.

E.B. White, an American writer, once said: "Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts."

As adults and role models for our children we should strive to do two things. One - not to pass on a learned behavior such as prejudice to our children. They can think. Let them use that ability to form their own opinions. Two - get the facts. Don't use hearsay or something based on a myth that no one has ever substantiated before you make up your mind.

This is not an ideal world but each of us could help to make it a better one if we judged individuals on their own merit and actions and not by preconceived ideas or someone else's opinion.