Prejudices

A couple of nights ago, I was terribly disappointed to witness someone

'marginalizing' another. This happened, worse of all, at a social ministry function to commemorate the mid autumn festival. One of the volunteers was giving out gifts. She came to the table where three of the special guests were sitting, and to my surprise, she handed out the gifts to only two of them. The third seemed to be 'invisible' to her. I was standing nearby at that time. Was it a mistake? It seemed so strange for anyone to make such a mistake.

Anyway, since I was also not a volunteer but a guest, I could not do anything directly. In fact, it took me some time before I decided that I should do something. Thankfully, I was able to communicate the 'mistake' to another volunteer and it was sorted out.

I came away feeling rather troubled. I had heard of people being marginalized by volunteers before, but had not witnessed it myself. Of course my first reaction was rather 'self-righteous' and judgmental of the person, as if I have never been prejudiced towards others. That self-righteous reaction keeps me 'above' others and I can feel good that I detected the error.

As I allowed the matter to 'sit' prayerfully within, I realized that the more beneficial response would be to ask myself what it must feel like to be marginalized. I am aware that I have not been on the receiving end and really have to take care that I do not begin to feel 'privileged'. Pride would just be a stone's throw away.
I am reminded that our Lord himself was at the receiving end of much insult, much rejection and suffering at the hands of those in power. There were times when he spoke up against such hypocrisy...and then there was his final journey where he allowed himself to bear with the insults and humiliations. In this world, there will be times when we witness the marginalization of the poor and helpless. It is extremely sad if this happens in a church where God's love is preached and we are reaching out to those who do not know that love. There are times when we have to speak up for what is right, always without a judgmental spirit towards the wrongdoer. In addition, we are called to identify with the poor and downtrodden, to enter their world and there find Christ,in a special way through the 'little ones'.