Eliminating Biased Thinking

Many people can struggle with being confident about one thing or another during their lifetimes.  I think very few individuals can honestly say that they have never had these issues, as we all contend with a variety of things as we grow older.  I also believe that people have their own genuine strengths about them, that enables their confidence and self esteem.  People can have a positive outlook about their looks, intelligence, command over a certain language or any other number of things that can be lacking in others.  Interestingly, most children who are not old enough to understand whether they can or cannot do something, tend to emit lots of self confidence because they have no understanding about limitations at a young age.  Then as they grow older they become more vulnerable because of the exposure to other people's thinking, that can cause a lack of belief in themselves.  I often think about how much we could have benefited in our lives if we had kept more of that youthful approach in our ability to do all things.  Children do not know the difference in races or understand social issues that deal with equity for all, for them everyone is the same.  I think our world could be so much better if we had never been tainted in our beliefs otherwise. Whether it is the circumstances in the surroundings of a child along with exposure to limited thinking, the recipe for losing the belief in oneself can be found in some of these grounding moments.  The long term ramifications can last a lifetime, when you realize that adults suffer from things that happened to them as a child and they never really addressed them as they grew older.   There are many people in their adult years, that still have not addressed something that is keeping them from their own self realization.  I know when I think back to my own childhood I initially thought that boys and girls were equals, however, soon I realized that just the treatment of a boy at home by their female nurturers can change they whole dynamic.  I came from a Mexican culture that placed a higher value on males and although I did not necessarily understand it, I just accepted it as part of my life.  I also know that in many cultures, having a male child is a sought after goal for many families, as it can predetermine what type of opportunities will exist for that child as they grow up, versus those who are female.  Although many of us believe that in our progressive world, this should not be occurring at this day and time, yet, it does and as result we still have to contend with preferential treatment over one gender versus another.  The result of this slanted view has caused activists to be born out of desperation for change that is needed to occur in those situations and more importantly, because tolerance over such issues could no longer be acceptable.  Our globe around the world seems to be changing at a rapid pace and social media brings many more people together than ever before, yet, we still have a ways to go when we realize that our views are still not as progressive as we might think.  I am always hopeful that the next generation of people will have solved some of these great dilemmas and one day, our world will be filled with talent and beauty that spans all cultures and genders.  Until then, I will continue to do my best to educate myself and those around me, so that we can foster the type of environment that will enable growth and prosperity among the future generations to come.