Racism.

There are stereotype for everyone, don't deny it because you hear it all around you. The Chinese are kiasu (afraid of losing out), the Malays are lazy and aimless, the Indians are violent and uncouth. Have you not seen a lazy, violent and uncouth Chinese? Have you not seen a Malay who's diligent and full of drive? Have yoou not met an Indian who looks like a giant but is as gentle as a feather?

Problem is, we usually meet the "bad" ones first; or rather we remember most strongly our bad experiences. That paired with our handed down stereotyping of people by their colour leads to prejudice.

Why do we decide how people are by the colour of their skin? It's not as if they were given a choice. It is not fair to segregate people by the colour of their skin, look beyond the skin, what is inside there?

I am not a person who has not encountered people of other races who have acted less than civil and behaved shamelessly in public. In fact, it is precisely because I have just experienced such an audacious act that I began thinking about the way I thought of people.

The story is, two Indians stepped on the bus and headed all the way to the back of the bus, and one exclaimed that he was going to play the music that he likes and proceeded to blast his player loud enough to cause the person who is in front of the bus (note: 2x long SMRT bus) to turn back and glare. But did they care? Not. They just cursed in the typical F*** ing.. %&£^@(. Insulting everyone insight,

I won't deny that for a moment I thought, "bloody Indians again..." Then I stopped myself. I thought of all my Indian friends, they weren't like that.

Later on in teh journey, another Indian sat in front of me, and as he grabbed the hand rail of the chair to sit down, he flashed me a smile. Not in the hamsap (note: perverted) way, but just a, "Good morning, nice to see you at 7.40 am on Deepavali" smile.

So in conclusion, the next time you see a person that fits a stereotype of a certain race, imagine him/her in a different colour. Does that change your opinion?

I think I can fairly say that I still do judge people by their colour, but am not ignorant to people who are of those colours of prejudice that have been wonderful to me. One great example is my baby sitter.

Anyone who knows me well enough will know that for the first part of my life I was taken care of by my malay babysitter. Her family became mine, I call her "mak" (note: mother in malay), her mother and father grandpa and grandma. When my "grandfather" passed on i could clearly remember all the things we did together and how he loved me. Till today, of my maternal grandfather I have nothing good to say.

You really don't have to be related by blood to be family and you really don't have to be a certain colour to be a certain way.