Brother Faraja,
I write not as a response to the attachment but to the idea you're proposing in these line of thought that "All human beings are equal except our beliefs, tribes and thinking,
which are always accidents and never the essences of our humanity. We
acquire them after getting out of the wombs of our mothers".
I am responding to this particular thought because I saw that you are a colleague
in the area of languages hence you must know that what we write here
influences the thinking patterns of may especially those who do not take
to cross check the facts.
Our beliefs.
You first statement that All Humans are Equal is correct and true but to say that our our beliefs are not equal, is a little bit dangerous because this might mean that other people's beliefs are inferior to others. In my understanding, all beliefs are equal because they are beliefs that emanate
from a people's world view as a community evolves and adapts to their
ways of life. A people's world view is the sum total of how they have
seen life from their own perspectives as it is revealed to them by God
through creation represented by nature. The American Indians, the Incas
of the Amazon, the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania, the Zandawe of Tanzania and the Khoisaan of the Southern part of Africa have their beliefs that have been formed and informed by what God HAS ALLOWED THEM TO KNOW AND THESE BELIEFS ARE IN NO WAY SUPERIOR OR INFERIOR TO THOSE OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD.
Tribes
Once again I would like to point out that this word tribe carries with it very derogatory implications when used to refer to the peoples of Africa or Asia. The European scholars of sociology and Anthropology use this term to refer to those communities perceived to be
uncivilized or backward. The term has no significance at all. We better
use the term community, people, Ethnic community but not tribe. We know
we have many communities in Africa who speak different languages and
have different Cultures which give us identity, so we not tribes we are communities. My problem here first is when you say that all human beings are equal except
our tribes. What do you mean here? Do you mean that all communities are
Equal? What equality are you talking about here? Wealth,
height,population, or what?I refer you to Okot p'Bitek's African Religions in the Western Scholarship where a whole chapter discusses this issue. I
Thinking
You need to clarify
what you mean by saying that our thinking is not equal. I thought all
human beings collectively taken think. As a community and a people the
thinking of Africans is equal to the thinking of European but different.
The European or Asian thinking is never superior to any other. I Hope
what you meant here is that we do not think the same. We all think
differently but our thinking is equal and that is why we have in many
countries, a freedom of speech and expression entrenched in the constitution.
Which are always accidents.
the
three above, beliefs, "tribe" and thinking, you incorrectly brand them
"Are always accidents"as a linguist I hope you know what what you mean
when you put a phrase in the present simple. How do you conclude that
these are accidents? As a Christian I do not believe that it was an
accident to be born in Kenyan Acts 17:26,says that From one man he made every nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and
the exact places where they should live. Read from your angle
of thought, it is evident that you are happy with being born in
Tanzania. You seem to feel inferior because it was by accident that
you were born black or white. There are no accidents with God because
nothing gives Him a surprise.
Never the essences of our humanity.
This statement is also not correct because without beliefs and thinking, I do not see the purpose of life on earth. Humanity is what it because of the same
things you are abrogating.I think that the way we think, the sets of
our belief systems and the Communities in which we are born make us who
we are and give us the identity and existence. Please revise the statement looking at each word semantically.
Thanks.
Paul