Life has a way of handing you appropriate writing material. Today I realized, one thing that absolutely ANNOY me is discrimination and intolerance. In this day and age, there’s just no room for both. I am a big believer of diversity, equal opportunities, and I accept everyone for whatever they are. I believe everyone has universal human rights to choose whatever they want to choose and as such, it is inevitable that your beliefs are different from or opposes someone else’s. It’s like that Malay saying, we have the same dark hair, but we don’t have the same heart. But we are not animals, we have morals, the value of rational thought and most importantly, we have compassion. No matter how different your beliefs are, no one has the right to assert their beliefs or non-beliefs on another human being. Preconceived notions can be broken, stereotypes can be shattered. But if you don’t open your heart, how can you see through the surface? Acceptance is certainly not hypocrisy, it’s compassion, it’s understanding and it’s tolerance. So rise up against discrimination and embrace diversity.