"i've converted my maid!" I declared and more than 40 members of my group congratulated me.
My maid, over time had been watching me collect kitchen waste and dry leaves for composting. Intrigued, she announced one day that she too would like to try this. She had been converted. Oops I have just used the dreaded 'C' word.
But honestly, what are they afraid of? If your example is worth emulating, why not? Should you be condemned for daring to change another's thinking? Should you be discouraged, abused and driven out of your space for daring to allow another human being to make a calculated, sensible judgement which they prefer to their present state?
Why would a bystander be offended? Because he was not invited to the party first? Because he was not the one who had done something good enough to copy, to inspire, to convince another? So the only other way to get some attention to himself is to pull down the two, with as much noise as possible. People are always attracted to loud noise, so the louder, the better. The more abusive, the more attention. And there you have it, his name is on everyone's lips, for better or worse; everyone has an opinion on his actions, and he, only he, is the centre of all that attention, that glorious attention!Conversions are different from Coercion. If something is forced on anyone without their consent, it is not right (even a marriage). But to say that no one is allowed to make a sensible decision to change their mind over something, is not democratic nor reasonable. To expect everyone to remain in their state of existence just because they happen to be born into something, is unjust - where is the freedom as a human being?
Sure, my maid never thought of harbouring kitchen waste for 90 days or more. She had always been told that waste is waste, and you had to get rid of it - never mind where - throw it out on the street in front of the house, in the neighbour's back yard or around the corner when no one is looking...just get rid of it. But being 'better than her neighbours', and rather than dump the contents of the dustbin directly out for all to examine in detail, she, the enlightened one, would put them all in a plastic bag, and throw it out on the street, in front of the house, in the neighbour's backyard, or around the corner on her way home from work.
But now, she is confronted by a new thought : Dont throw, Segregate.
It took some time, but now she is convinced that there is another way of doing things, another belief that she can cling to and call her own. One day, she did the unthinkable - she stepped outside the house to sweep up dry leaves from the road!!
"Oh heavens, the ignominy of it all", her family cried. "What will our neighbours think?! Are we so common, that you should stoop to that level? Stop this practise right now! You will bring disgrace to our exalted name!"
But she needed the leaves, she pleaded, its for her bin.
"Bin?! You are collecting garbage as well? Stop this unholy practise right now, or forever leave our house. We have NEVER had rotting garbage in our homes. We are clean! Holy!"
That could have been the scene at her home, because as far as I know she doesn't segregate nor does she compost anymore. She had been RE converted.
Should she have stayed the course of her decision? Which 'conversion' was the more acceptable one, the first time or the second? Was it better when she made a choice for herself, or more acceptable because 'majority rules and might is right' and she was forced to comply?
Conversion or Coercion?
