Life is about what you were told. Think about it. No really, take your time and download this one.
When you are asked basic information about yourself, like your name, age, place of birth or city of residence, etc. The answer flows fast through you, most of them unconsciously. They were all what you were told. Someone or some people told you your name, you grew to learn the name of your village, town and city. You were taught your national anthem and pledge. Whatever you know now was told to you either directly (word of mouth or physical interactions) or indirectly (books or personal research).
Discovering something new is very difficult in this day and age, we can stumble upon something and see it in a new light and that can seem like something new, but that thing you have seen in a new light was definitely old and has been there for a while.
Now that we have reached an agreement on that point, I was thinking about it. Life is so dynamic there is a whole lot to learn and apply. Why don't we question some of these things we are told? What is the possibility that what we were told is causing problems for us in our current generation?
Let's have a few examples;
There was a time when twins were killed off after birth because of a belief that they are evil. Now belief comes from a conviction of what you are told. Mary Slessor who didn't have that belief and wasn't raised with that thought poured into her being had the conviction to question it, go against it and change it. Now in plenty of areas, twins live because of someone questioning a particular culture.
Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white person in 1955. We all know the story, let me not bore you.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for girls' education who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012. She continued to advocate for girls' education, emphasizing that every child deserves access to quality education, regardless of gender or background. The courage to even stand up for something as massive as education for girls as young as she was is admirable.
The list is endless. What I'm saying is we ought to be open minded, really. It is because we are not authorities ourselves in any field and cannot really say for certain that what we have been told is true or false unless proven. We have seen that a lot in our schooling, where what we learnt in basic school was either wrong or outdated and we had to unlearn and relearn in high school and so on.
Therefore when you are acting strongly on something, a belief or otherwise, ask yourself…
“Who told you?"
The penitself.