You decide to listen to the man. After all, you can read the letter later. Turning your attention toward him, you hear..........
prej-u-dice
1. a preconceived, usually unfavorable, idea 2. an opinion held in disregard of facts that contradict it; bias 3. intolerance or hatred of other races, etc. 4. injury or harm
This is Webster’s definition but prejudice is much stronger than these words. Prejudice is fear which is bred from ignorance. If we wipe out ignorance will the fear go away? We have been trying this in recent years and it doesn’t seem to be working. Sometimes it seems to be getting worse like a teenager rebelling when you tell him this is the right way. Is there an element among us that like this angry teen goes against the norm just to be different? If so, they may see the error of their ways and again join the loving but in the meantime how many people will they hurt? How many more will they recruit for this hateful cause?
Who does this hurt? Some of you on this path may ask. The queen who is afraid to be herself for fear of retaliation. What it must be like to repress who you really are; to feel the hateful eyes burning into you if you dare to be yourself. The black child who would rather stay home and get punished than go to school and face the ridicule. Image feeling that the physical pain of a belt seems less painful than the psychological one you must endure day after day. The disfigured woman who has to endure the stares while she gets her groceries. This is after the anxiety attacks she had to overcome just to get there. How it must feel to be terrified to leave the house. The man with Aids who knows the social worker threw away the pen he used and wiped down her desk after he left. He knows this because he saw her when he came back for the paper he left. She played it off like he didn’t see her but he did. The hurt he must feel at knowing you fear him for no reason. Imagine feeling isolated from half of the world on top of finding out that you may never fulfill your dreams. There are too many situations to mention but do not feel that if I did not mention you that your situation is any less painful. It all hurts the same. It is a pain that fills our soul and if we let it, will consume us. If we do let it consume us, we leave the loving and become one of the hating. We must fight it. We must fight the blatant acts as well as the subtle ones.
How do we fight it? You ask. We can fight it by enlightening the masses. Thus ridding the world of ignorance. This will take centuries. In addition to this we must each examine ourselves and purge our subconscious of these hateful thoughts. We must bring the love and understanding to
the forefront of our conscience. As we do this we must take another step in showing love to others before we even know who they are. None of this is easy. It is a constant battle for most but it is worth it for all of us. I fear that if we do not do this the end of the world will be near.
