Posted by I was recently surfing the Internet when I ran across this video of a poetry contest. The video was of two female poets who were reciting a powerful work of art, which inspired me to write this post.
Watch for yourself:
Their beautiful words reminded me that American society is still filled with racism, judgment, and discrimination. It truly saddens me. America has always been marketed as a country of freedom and opportunity, but no matter how hard we try there are still people who make judgements base on the color of one’s skin. Unfortunately, I do not think this will be changing anytime soon. But I am happy to see the majority of this country is moving forward. Recently, the number of states that allows same-sex marriages has increased and now includes my home state of Pennsylvania. It makes me proud to see that people are beginning to be more open-minded.
I understand the feelings of distrust and resentment that some people feel towards other races or groups may be rooted in a long history, often involving war. Sometimes these are feeling we were taught to have by our family members or sometimes through personal experiences with other individuals. It can be hard to overcome these feelings and move past our prejudices, however, moving forward and opening our minds is the only way to make this world a better places. Once we move past hating people for not who they are as a person, but for how they choose to live their lives or how they were born, we can start to solve the bigger issues of the world.
The way other’s choose to live their lives doesn’t affect how you live your own. Bob and George getting married down the street does not change the validity of your marriage. The fact that your neighbor prays at a mosque instead of a church, shouldn’t affect how your feel about your own faith or how you feel about them as a person. A person’s sexual orientation, race, religion, etc. does not make them a bad person, or any less of a human being. All people deserve to be treated with respect, unless they’ve personally harmed you. But going out of your way to avoid a complete stranger just because they are different from you, well, that doesn’t reflect kindly on your own character.
If anyone else has come across similar videos, I’d love if you could share them. I found this one very inspiring. Hopeful for the future.
Olivia Bohrer 