HUMANISTIC 3: Understanding Multiple Intellegence

We live among the people not just as a single identity. For instance, to parents I am their daughter who has to make them proud; being good kid or help them every day. To sisters I am the oldest who have to be their good model. To teachers I am their student who has to not being stupid. To lover probably you are his/her lover who should give them fun love-life. To school organization I am the leader who has to lead them. Those statuses are live inside us. Indisputable, in certain time, those statues can mix up and causes confusion or even problems. Moreover we live with other people who also have multiple identities.

Reflect to myself, I should not forget my identity as a Javanese when I live at Jakarta where many cultures are here. Hence, I often show my specific character as Javanese, which is medok (speak in strong java accent). My friends like to tease me, they repeat my words like what I said, and even they exaggerate it. To be honest, I sometimes hate it. It sounds like they mock at me. But, I ask to myself back then. I also like teasing my Sudanese friends by saying p when they misspell f.

We can’t deny it if we still like to judge and mock them by their look. We hardly see the other identities they have. It should not be like that, we should not see on one side.  Like maybe we can have different ethnic, but at least we are the same as Indonesian, or the same as Muslim, or the same as student. In certain way we are different, but in other way we are the same. So, I think respect is important in order to avoid hatred among others.

However before we respect others, we need to respect our own identities first. We have to be responsible to each identity we have and keep it balance. When one of our identity get problem, we have other identities that may help. For example, parents got angry with me because I don’t help them at home, but as a student I can show them that I can get the first rank. Then, my parents will not angry again to me. However, keep our identities balance is not easy. For some people maybe they find something harder than this. Personally, I never have a big problem of my identities, because I live in place where I also find many people with the same identities.

Thereby, we should stop judging people based on their one identity without looking them as a complex one. Then, if we already know it, we still suppose not to judge them. Rather than judge, it is worth it more when we can respect each other. Because, like what Harper Lee said in her book, To Kill a Mocking bird,  “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it”.