hatred and racism. who is at fault?

recently i was bored enough so i decided to spend some time with my colleagues in the office. most of the time,  i would just be in my room doing my work, but that day was exceptional. i think there was something i needed to submit, therefore the need for me to be there so i thought why not i chitchatted for a while. since i don't usually meet them, it was nice to sit and talk to them - just for a quick catch up of how others were doing.

we were talking about kids. since i don't have one yet, so i talked about my nieces instead. of their progress, their funny antics etc. i still remember i was telling them that one of my nieces loves to watch educational clips on youtube. there was a time, i caught her watching a clip, the lyrics were of course beyond my understanding, but i know instantly it was some sort oh Hindu 'nasyid' when i heard the god's name - Ramakrishna. we were actually laughing more of because it was sung in tamil and she made the head movement resembling the Indian dance, and seemed like she enjoyed herself too. but worry not, people, because after that i persuaded her to change to another clip and she forgot about it in seconds.

so that was the story of my niece. what shocked me was the response i got from my colleagues. i was hoping they could laugh on that because i think it is funny to think how innocent a child can be, not knowing the impact of singing such song, what more knowing who is Ramakrishna she was singing about. but i was wrong. because my story was taken in a different manner. 

this is how she responded to my story:

she started telling me about her son who loves lights. whenever they go somewhere full with colourful lights, the boy would excitedly show them with a happy face, and they would address that by telling him this and that. there was once, they were passing by a Hindu temple, and being a kid he was, he was excited to see the lights and started to call his parents. instead of responding like always, the mom just looked at him, and said nothing, the boy insisted showing the lights but again, no response. later, the boy cried because he was confused and i bet he was so scared why mommy was so quiet hahahaha. the mom told me, she actually didn't know what to do at that time; thinking that she could not address her son's excitement because she didn't want people to think her son is into 'Hindu' when he gets excited each time he sees a Hindu temple. at this point i started to feel uneasy. she continued she got an idea on how to teach her son to dislike temple - so each time they were passing by the temple, she would make faces - like you want to vomit, like it was disgusting. and now, her son is fixed according to her because when they pass by the temple, her son would make faces too.

i felt so sick hearing this, i feel like losing my mind for few seconds. my mind was full with questions. why are you teaching this to your kid? it is wrong. you don't puke seeing other people's religious places. like the non muslim should make faces when they see a mosque. why should they, by the way? it is a sacred place for the believers. why are you teaching this to your kid?

at the age of 2, he may not understand it yet. but hatred stays if you instil it since the very beginning. it is easy to love, but so hard to remove hate from your heart. why can't you just explain? i mean, of course he wouldn't get it first because he was actually addressing the lights, nothing else. in fact i was amazed when i know he didn't cry to see all the sculptures like some other kids i know. and why are you so scared? isn't it good that your kid could know all types of 'rumah sembahyang' because we are living in diversity? 

seriously, i don't get it. i already pictured me and my kid - my response would be totally different. i would say yes, the lights are beautiful, and that is a temple for Hindu. but we are muslim. we don't go to temple. we go to the mosque and start showing pictures of mosques on my hp. i will keep telling my kid the same thing, and if needed, i would drag the kid's father to putrajaya too so i can show my kid the mosques *tetiba je putrajaya padahal ada je masjid dekat rumah hahahah*

we are living in diversity. rather than saying they are all immigrants which i dont agree at all - read history. Hindu was here long before us. habis kau ingat bersanding, berinai penuh tangan tu daripada mana? but that's a different story. we as parents must not let our child to hate. if you are scared of their faith, work hard on it by practising Islam at home. in fact, as muslims we must not look down on other religion. the right to practise your religion, remember? what you can do is to be a daie, to show them the beauty of Islam through your manners. 

i'm sorry, but i am against those who think they are better than the others. my religion doesn't teach me that. what about you?

p/s: my colleagues are actually nice, but they are just normal people who have their own thinking that may not suit mine. but still, they are nice people. i don't write because i want to bash her, but to address the absurd thought she had, and how she reacted to the issue. this, i believe is common among us, unfortunately.