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All About You!
The things you should be paying attention to in everyday
life
By Christy
Roberts, Feature Editor
Tolerance
is defined by our good friend Webster as sympathy or indulgence for beliefs
or practices conflicting with one’s own. So what does it mean to be tolerant
of one another? To ignore our differences? In race, color, origin, speech,
build, and look? But come on! Every single person on earth harbors some
form of prejudice or another. It is beyond unrealistic for us to let all
of these prejudices go. People attain prejudice through the way they’re
raised, the area in which they live, their religion, or through ignorance
caused by personal experience. |
Most
often, prejudice is demonstrated through the historical mistreatment and
suffering of a certain group of individuals. Descendants of surviving victims
have a radical prejudice toward descendants of surviving persecutors, giving
birth to a big fat circle of hatred.
It would take years to
chronicle all of the atrocities committed throughout history, but the truth
is that EVERY group of people has suffered and been someone’s victim at
some point in history. Three thousand years ago, the world did not appear
the same as it does today. Besides the fact that there existed only one
third of the current population, they were not even in the same geographical
locations. People have been migrating to and conquering other lands since
the beginning of man. When they did migrate, they killed the existing population
or enslaved them in order to conquer the land.
What
we seem to forget is that genocide is not a new thing; torture is not a
modern fad, and ethnic cleansing is not a current trend. The Bible, as
well as other religious documents, tell of countless incidents of murder
for fear of the unknown. Although it is said that we keep documents and
teach history so that it doesn’t repeat itself, it does seem to repeat
itself, regardless. Why is this? Haven’t people learned from the horrific
mistakes of the past?
The
fall of Rome is often blamed on the moral decay of the empire, yet The
United States, a country virtually built in the image of the Roman Empire,
sees nothing wrong with the moral decay of the country. There have been
countless memorials built in order to forever remember the Holocaust, yet
there are still people who insist it never happened.
Even
more disturbing is the modern day ethnic cleansing being committed in Yugoslavia,
Tibet, Rwanda, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. What we have learned from
the past is that acts, such as these, are not ONE person’s fault, but EVERY
person’s fault who did not speak up. Are we afraid of the threat of nuclear
war if we protest?
Recently
a test ban treaty went to the senate that would halt all testing and production
of nuclear weapons and improve detection and monitoring of all other nuclear-capable
countries. Therefore, how big is that threat? The culprit of the heinous
crime of silence is most definitely one’s mentality--the product of those
of a past generation who control our glorious country.
If
you’re not asleep yet, you’re most likely furious with outrage that these
out-of-touch and un-P.C. men are controlling the fate of millions with
their silence. But you ask yourself, what can I do? I can’t vote; no one
cares about me. I’m just another number that a few cents of tax dollars
go to improve. The truth is that you matter more than you could possibly
comprehend.
As
you turn on the T.V., you will notice a large number of shows, products,
movies, and media all geared toward you. You are one of the largest consumers
in the country because you have a supply of money, given by your parents,
with no bills to pay. Without you, the economy of this country would be
ten years behind. Look into certain products. Find out how that money is
really spent. There are certain CD’s you can buy that contribute a portion
of the proceeds to charities. You can march, you can protest, you CAN and
DO have a voice. The only one who can tell you no is you. Write letters
to your congressman. Write hundreds of letters. Register to vote if you’re
old enough. Remember. Change the world, and it will change you. |
