How long before we overcome prejudice?

The ethnic violence emerging in Kenya over the past week is yet another example of how desperately people need to internalize the teaching of the oneness of humanity and work to eliminate their prejudices. As Baha'u'llah said over 100 years ago: "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established."

Contrast this truth with this quote from a New York Times article reporting on the challenges now facing so many people in villages throughout Kenya:

“It was the Kalenjin,” said Samuel Mburu, a Kikuyu farmer with rows of stitches in his head, when asked who had nearly killed him. The Kalenjin are one of the bigger tribes in the Rift Valley, and they have fought fiercely with the Kikuyus before, mostly over land.

Many Kalenjin are unapologetic. Robert Tutuny, a Kalenjin farmer, stood on a hillside on Sunday with an iron bar in his hands and looked down at the charred remains of a Kikuyu village that was razed a week ago.

“We hate these people,” Mr. Tutuny said.

When we see reports like this too often we shake our heads and go back to our own lives, as if we can do little to change these deep-seated problems. But perhaps we should use them to remind us that any effort we make to overcome our prejudices and treat others with kindness will make the world a better place. It won't immediately fix the problems in Kenya, Darfur or Iraq, but it will contribute to a long-lasting change in the world. Like throwing a pebble into water -- the reverberations go on for a long time.

The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world's misery would very soon be changed into comfort.

'Abdu'l-Baha