#43: No More Discrimination (PART 5)

​【Trait by Choice】
Indeed, no one has wished to be born into discrimination. And just because a trait from birth may now be changed, that doesn’t make it right to unjustly hurt people based on such trait.
 
Now then, what about a trait by choice? Like the jobs we choose or the illnesses caused by personal neglect of our own health. Some may say, “It’s by your own choice and no one coerced you into what you chose, so if you’re discriminated based on a trait by choice, then it’s legitimate.”
 
Nonetheless, is it really justifiable to hurt people through exclusion or rejection if it’s based on a trait by choice? Which brings us to consider the following question: How sure can we be that a trait by choice is truly and freely “by choice,” that it has nothing to do with a trait from birth?
 
Perhaps, the reason why some people settled for an unenviable job may have something to do with their upbringing in the shadows of the abusive parents. Perhaps, the reason why others fell ill through personal neglect of own health may have something to do with their childhood spent all alone as an orphan.
 
Indeed, we can’t choose to which parents we’re born to, nor can we readily choose how we’re to be raised as youngsters. If, at the very least, they were raised free from parental abuse, then they may have lived an entirely different life. And they may have, perhaps, made very different choices along the way.
 
Childhood abuse by a parent has been around across time, everywhere. Abuse by a parent within our own home – a place meant to be a private sanctuary of calm and comfort, with love and care. However, when the abuse occurs behind the closed doors of a home, that privacy makes it troublingly opaque from the outside. It further limits our ability to gather information, hindering the progress to bring this issue out into the open.
 
Nonetheless, uncovering the abuse is advancing, thanks to the rising social awareness condemning this cruelty. Visibility is on the rise, even those that used to go unnoticed, and those actions by parents that used to be considered as widely “acceptable.”
 
Child abuse can be defined as a physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child, especially by a parent. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a quarter of all adults experience physical abuse as children, and that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 13 men experience childhood sexual abuse. Furthermore, American Psychological Association (APA) – the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the US – reports that childhood psychological abuse and neglect are the most prevalent forms of child abuse.
 
One of the most devastating consequences of a childhood abuse is the violation of a child’s human dignity, triggering a myriad of emotional and developmental distress that stands in the way of the child to live a fulfilling life. In many cases, these challenges further endanger the child to become a perpetrator or a victim of violent acts, repeatedly engage in self-destructive behaviors, fall victim to a major depressive disorder, or abuse substances including alcohol. Mired in distress, it’s no mystery that a job selection or the care for own health may be disturbed.
 
To be sure, it’s neither right nor healthy to place all the blame for our life's troubles on our birth or upbringing. Indeed, our happiness, upon reaching adulthood, ultimately is our own responsibility to realize. When we acknowledge as such, our lack of effort deserves some of the blame.
 
Certainly, there are some people who were born and raised in a similarly less-fortunate situation, yet have worked diligently to land a coveted job. On the contrary, there are others who were born into all the fortune we can envy, yet have fallen out of favor through the fault of their own misbehavior.
 
Nevertheless, where do we draw the line between Truly and freely by choice and By neither true nor free choice? From what point is it Unjust to hurt people through exclusion or rejection, and from where is it Justifiable? Perhaps, that delicate boundary lies somewhere between the subtle layers of empathy and compassion.
 
And when we acknowledge as such, we can’t be so sure that a trait by choice is truly and freely “by choice,” that it has nothing to do with a trait from birth. When we’re ready to accept that fact and embrace it with all our empathy and compassion, we know that hurting people based even on a trait by choice can’t be justified.
 
When we truly realize that fact, we understand that each and every one of us is empowered to spread out our blanket of compassion for each other to prevent discrimination.

Read Next: No More Discrimination (6)【Even if Unintentional】
Read Previous: No More Discrimination (4)【Why No】
 
Complete Series: No More Discrimination (1)～(12)
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Read Theme: Discrimination