Random Selection



Being the only person chosen on every airport you visit for a full body search is not the definition of random selection. When you are told that the search is random yet you are the only person it happens to every single time also does not help. To further aid your cause, you are told not to smile for every photo in an official document so that you look like you are a member of ISIS. This must be the reason for your random selection.
A wise man once said “It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.” In line with this people only remember how you made them feel. And every European Airport security official has made me feel like a terrorist. Similar emotions resonate when you are the only person of colour in your workplace in a particular position of power or specific level of income. This could possibly be as a consequence of our history as a country and one is made to feel that you do not belong. In these situations one has to remember the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt “ No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”
The human factor plays a big role in all of this and we as scientists seem to forget that we are dealing with people and not just numbers. How many articles, books, speeches, students and even how much money you make, have little or no influence if you behave like a prick. They way we relate to each other and treat one another on the other hand has a spin off effect….so pay it forward.

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