Equality: A New Perspective

Many years ago, at the University of Nigeria, Professor Pat Utomi, while delivering his speech said something that has stayed with me. He said and I quote “At certain levels of knowledge acquisition, faculties converge.” This left me thinking. It became apparent to me that perspectives are only a function of one’s position on the ‘knowledge tree.’

Over the years, superiority, supremacy, and comparison have been part of human interactions. For instance, many times while acquainting with people, we try to gauge them, making our estimations to ascertain where they fall short and where we have an edge. Sure, we all can relate with words such as taller, smarter, richer, greater, stronger, and the likes. These all evoke a sense of superiority and of course, inequality. We compete! O, the scramble. Having lived this way for as long as we can remember, how are we expected to believe in equal opportunities for all. Really?

Knowledge.

It is evident that we live in a very significant time in the evolution of human race, and we are at that point in knowledge acquisition where the faculties are beginning to converge. And the differences we once emphasized are fading; dividing lines are blurring as we begin to realize that it is one race of humans on a journey of discovering self and one another for the ultimate purpose of perfecting one another. So, we all can now jettison our comparison adjectives and proudly say to one another ‘You complete me.’ Then, if you are taller and I am shorter, I would happily wash your feet and you would happily comb my hair, so we both look our best on stage at life’s party.

The differences we believe exist between us as humans are a function of the rung of the ladder from where we view. However, the seemingly diversified faculties at the lower rung and the claims of ascending ones should not be underestimated or taken for granted. Otherwise, we would miss out on a huge opportunity to be an integral part of an evolving process and the privilege to play vital roles in the emergence of the world we desire. The pushbacks should be expected and included in the strategic plan to create an equitable world where fairness becomes equally ingrained in our core. This is a process and how long this process takes us depends on how much of empathy we can embed in it.

When the process is laced with empathy, courage, persistence, and tenacity become meaningful tools in wading through oppositions. We can and we should achieve equality, not only in the workplace but in all spheres of human interactions. It is the least we can do, it is a step in the right direction and our finest tool for achieving equity.

No human being should be discriminated against for any reason whatsoever or denied an opportunity without being given a fair chance to compete if we must; and I say this in all fairness. Organizations can marshal out a list of dos and don’ts and hand over to the HR department simply because stringent policies have been put in place to check inequality in employment practices, which is highly commendable. However, if all we have as tool to eliminate or reduce inequality in our world are policing policies, then we would have lost the genuineness in our quest. There is a clear difference between flashing a policy-guided smile at someone and truly smiling at them because you really want to.

It is time that we all, in our little spaces, evaluated some of the beliefs and practices that have shaped our thinking through the years and formed the basis for how we perceive the other person. A song writer once said, ‘There is no need running when you are on a wrong road.’ If we genuinely want a change, we should be courageous enough to admit we were wrong and then push for the right. The need to be loved, appreciated, affirmed and to belong cannot be sectionalized, it is human, psychological. Every human feels it regardless of class, status and whatever else we believe makes us superior to those we lightly esteem.

We cannot continue to cling to the benefits of our exclusiveness and at the same time claim to be bothered by the inequality in our world. I do not in any way assert that overhauling a mental stance, to live differently is an easy thing to do; it may not even feel right, especially considering how we got here. But, if it is right, then we can and we should do it by knowledge. Trust me, the good feeling will follow.

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