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04-07-02 · 03-08-04 · 03-15-04 ·
I personally am not prejudice, however there are many that are. During my growing up (elementary, high school, etc.) I have found that there are many people that will react to you according to the color of your skin. Many do not like associating with anyone that are not like them. People that are like this should be "kicked in the head" a few times because it isn't right to think like that.
I didn't grow up in any large cities, so many can say that I haven't grown up to know others. People who say this, I do not respect their opinions because they don't know me if they say that. I treat everyone the same and doing so I see certain characteristics that come up when I do. You can tell when a person has a prejudice about you because you can sense a bit of a chill in the air, and the person will watch you very carefully. I personally have had a security guard follow me around a store in the Valley before just because I had a cell-phone in the inside pocket of my jacket, T-shirt and jeans on, and shoes (in the middle of winter). I can understand the thought of a person in summer gear in the middle of winter, however I saw many others in the same type of outfit as myself, less the cell-phone. I find it interesting the way people look at a person with a cell-phone, as if they were breaking the law just by having one with them.
During my time in the city I have noticed a completely different type of people. It seems that everyone that you meet more than once is looking for you to do something wrong so that they can feel better about themselves. There are many people that feel that they can only feel good about themselves only when someone else has done something bad, or someone has fallen due to the person. Many bullies come to mind in this. Every bully has a form of prejudice that they are letting others see, may it be physical or mental the bully doesn't care.
There are also those that don't care about the rules of any given business. May it be having one person come in at a time, and no more than that one until that one leaves; or it could be having no book-bags in the store at any time. Many people will say that it is prejudice for a company to set these rules, however these same people will be the ones that the rules were put into place in the first place. A good example would be on Sunday night at the Superline Fuels - Barrington St. on Sunday Night (April 14/02). One child got buzzed into the store and 4-5 went in. They took a fire extinguisher and sprayed it towards the cashier, stole some bars & chips, and sprayed everything else in the store, the cashier got out of way but everything in the store was destroyed, the store had to get rid of everything in the store because of the extinguisher's chemical and it took a good 2 days to do that. That incident will just enforce the need for only one person allowed inside at a time. Even though that is a bad area, something like that should never happen especially when everyone in the community wants to be treated the same as everyone else is in the city. This is also a good example of why the Juvenal Act should be changed for those that are just hiding behind it so that they don't get arrested and put away for their criminal acts.
Many feel that a bad area of a city (in any area) will never change. Those who live there would like it to change, however those who don't live there won't help put the effort to help it change. There are also many that enjoy causing havoc and will do anything to make sure a bad area stays bad, or else they would have no power any more. Some live in fear of others, and the rest will not turn anyone in because they are family. In many eyes there should be a limit between protecting family vs. protecting a criminal, however in the "real world" there is no such limit. No matter the age of the person being protected, his/her family will protect them from the law. The Juvenal Act may protect them now, however if people don't stop allowing those who do the crime at a young age to not be caught, that person at the young age will never learn to stop it and have a chance to become worse when they get older. When the person gets older, they will still think that they can get away with anything because their family will protect them. This has to stop. The only way to have an area get better is to stop what has caused the area to get bad in the first place. The longer an area is feared (considered a bad area) the more of a chance that prejudice will stay in the mind of people.
It is my opinion that anyone that is prejudice should be arrested on the spot and forced to not think that way, however there is no current legal way to do that. The sooner we can get rid of prejudice, the sooner we can look forward into having a peaceful world. If we can't solve the differences in our backyard, how on earth are we to expect to have terrorism disappear?
I have just noticed this past weekend more prejudice than what I thought was around me. This prejudice stuff is actually different than what most people hear about. This prejudice is not dealing with the race of a person, but it is of the history of the person.
I am the type of person that tries to have everyone like me. I don't care if the person is a prick or a nice person; I just want to have everyone happy. Many people have also labeled me as a "sucker" because of this. The "sucker" label is because I seem to do almost anything to keep people happy. I seem to also put others before myself, so I am able to with stand a certain amount of verbal abuse from everyone. Currently I am being told, in a prejudice way, to stay away from one of my current friends.
I have talked with this friend, and I didn't realize the type of prejudice that people have for him/her. It bothers me greatly that people think this way about him/her. I have never seen such prejudice from these people before, until now. I am also faced with these people trying to force me to decide whom to "hang out" with. The history of the person doesn't bother me whatsoever; however everyone telling me that the person is trouble because of that past does bother me.
I have always done things to make others happy, and tried to do anything possible to do those things. All throughout my past I "hung out" with people that I trusted, and many others that seemed trustworthy. In school this was true many times, however I had no problem with making up my mind about any situation that has come up. I have been friends with a specific family for a better part of my life. This is because the children of that family and the children of my family were always "hanging out" so the two families became closer.
Now I am being faced with a decision that can be very destructive if it is not handled properly. Due to some prejudice that have surfaced towards one of my friends, I am being faced with a decision to take sides. Where the prejudice is based on the history of my friend, which I have no problem with that history, I feel I am being forced to take sides. This type of prejudice is difficult to deal with for many people because of the hatred of specific history that is involved.
This is the first time I have been involved in a decision like this. Usually any time I have been involved in any decision, it was cut & dry. It was a good side and a bad side, and I had no problem with doing the decision. Now I am faced with a family that I am close with vs. a friend that I am closer to than anyone else. The decision is to go on the side of this specific family and agree with the prejudice, or to fight against the prejudice by staying with this specific friend. As it looks to me there has to be a decision because the hatred is just too strong from the specific family.
I have always done what was best for other people, however this time will be different. Since it is a decision between prejudice attitudes vs. what I feel is right, the prejudice will lose in the end. I have started to take less "bull" from people and tried to continue to do my best to keep everyone happy. The more that this prejudice is being forced towards me the more of a chance that I will reject those people. I will reject those people because I don't think that way. I am the type of person that will follow his/her own instincts about anything. This time my instincts are telling me to stand up against this prejudice.
This will be difficult fight, regardless of whom the fight is against. People with this type of "one track mind" can become aggravated easily when you don't obey his/her reasoning. The reasoning that he/she has is telling you that the person is just "trouble", and feels that you will only be hurt if you stay around this specific person. This specific friend has backed out of doing things with me, such as celebrations, because of the prejudice that this specific family has against him/her. I didn't see it in the past because this specific family didn't show the prejudice with me whatsoever.
I have decided that I will finally fight for what I think is right. I have always, in the past, done what others thought whether I agreed to it or not. Now I feel it is time to do what I feel is right. I have been a powerful ally for anyone when it has come to a verbal debate, however this prejudice will be a new fight for me. I know of the history of this specific friend and can understand how people can be scared of that type of thing. I also know that this type of history has been involved with the specific family that has this prejudice. So the family is being really hypocritical with this prejudice.
Although I am best friends with one of the people of this specific family, I will not hesitate to do what I feel is right. The more that the prejudice is being shown to me, the more I will fight against it. I treasure all of my friendships, and have never been forced to choose between any of them until now. I will choose to do what I feel is right, regardless of the cost that will come to me. I feel this way because prejudice things shouldn't exist in the world today, however they do. I will do what is right and fight against this prejudice, regardless how much it may alienate me from this specific family.
I do what my "gut" or instincts tell me to do. If I suddenly want to go to Subway for a sub, I will do it. If I feel it necessary to fight against something that I believe is not right, I will do just that. I know how it feels to bottle things up because I was in a depression for 10-12 years, and I will not let this one do the same thing. Although it may be requested that I do nothing in this situation by my friend, I will do something regardless. I may be told to not worry about it, however when this type of hatred exists something needs to be done. I can be very stubborn at times, however this is one of those times that it is required.
All prejudice should not exist, however the world is not open minded enough to allow the prejudice attitudes to disappear. It is rather unfortunate that the world is just too stupid to realize that this hatred is wrong. I hope that with the fight against this prejudice will cause people to realize that the prejudice is wrong to have. I hope that I am able to make a difference in this situation because I will not be forced to think a way that I don't agree with.
The blatant verbal attack that I received from this specific family about the specific friend of mine is wrong. I will not stand by and allow these comments to exist in my presence. These types of comments are the reason why when a person has a bad history that the prejudice starts against that person. It is wrong to think in the prejudicial way that people do think, and this will be the first time that I have disagreed with the specific family about anything important like this. It will be different for me to do this against them, however it is what I believe is right.
I know that it will be a "bumpy road" to get this prejudice dealt with properly, however when I get my mind on something I will do it. I am a powerful ally when I believe in what is being fought for. I have been a powerful ally when it came to verbal reasoning in situations, and this one will be no different. This specific family may alienate me but it is time for this prejudice to end. No one should have to relive his/her past because others won't let the past die. This is one of those fights that you cannot be neutral, and you will have to sacrifice something when you choose your side.
I hope that anyone who knows me realizes that this is a fight that I believe in, and I will not be forced out of it. Since I receive the blatant verbal attack, myself, I have been pulled into the fight. I could decide to do nothing, however my personal ethics have a big problem with doing that. I will fight regardless of what I may lose in the process because it is the right thing to do. The prejudice may never go away. I cannot promise that the prejudice will go away, however there is a chance to have this specific family to reconsider his/her stand on the situation. This is especially true if the family realizes what I am willing to sacrifice to do the right thing.
In my mind, to be prejudice is just another way to show how much you haven't matured as the world moves on. When you are prejudice against anyone regardless of the circumstances, you are being unfair to that person. The world has a lot of prejudicial things within it that have yet to be conquered. With this being known, the world has to grow up and put those differences aside to grow into something better.
I have friends that have been prejudice against one other friend because of the past of the person. After having a verbal attack done to me a week ago by a friend, I have gone to other friends to find out his/her opinion about the friendship with the other friend. I have found out that there are many people that would like to see me not to be around this specific friend. I have also found a friend or two that do not have any problems with the friendship, however would like me to keep my eyes open during the friendship. This just means that these friends want me to be happy and not get hurt by the other friend.
I am prepared to give the friends that I have that believe that the friendship with a specific other friend should end, to give those people an ultimatum. This ultimatum will either show me who my friends really are, or show me how who cares about hating others through prejudice. The ultimatum will have them decide to either have my friendship or to have the prejudicial issues with my specific friend. I have prepared myself for this for the past two weeks, however I have been told by certain others to not say anything yet.
It will take a lot of effort on my part to "keep the peace" for the amount of time I have been told is required, currently. I will "keep the peace" as long as there are no more attacks against the specific friend or me. The specific friend has had a "raw deal" in life, and this type of prejudice is not necessary. The prejudice that has been used against him/her is wrong and I will stand up for this person. I will stand up against anything like prejudicial things because it is the right thing to do. In the past I have stood up against others that I felt needed to be stood up to (bullies), and got the "shit kicked out of me". I kept on standing up for others and myself when the time was necessary, however I have never needed to fight against prejudice before.
In school I gained a lot of respect from other people where I stood up against people needed to have that done to. Every person that I stood up to in school did win in physical fights, however lost in popularity. When a person that will not fight offensively is in a fight, regardless of the outcome, the aggressor will lose in the end. After time I had enough respect from people to have those people stand by me, regardless of the aggressor, and be able to force that aggressor to lose the fight. Some may call that pity that those people showed, however I call it respect. I say this because the people would stand by me regardless of the situation. With pity, the people will only stand up with you when he/she feels that it is necessary to help out.
I have been a friend to many of the people that believe that the specific friendship is wrong, for a long time. I have never had any real reason to go against him/her over anything in the past. Meanwhile he/she was having these prejudicial things against someone and I didn't see it. I didn't see it because I was never around this specific person during the time that it started. Now that I have the friendship, and know about the past from the start, I have been introduced to the prejudice that exists. I know that I can stop this prejudice because I am very persistent when I need to be. My persistence will be the way that the prejudice stops.
The prejudice will stop because I will have the ultimatum that I know that everyone will be shocked for me to say. I will not stand by any friend that has prejudice against any of my other friends. I will not stand by and allow such cruelty to exist, and will sacrifice anything (reasonable) to end it. I know that these friends want the friendship to end with the specific person, however I will not end it. I am closer to the specific friend than I am with anyone else, combined. I will however sacrifice the friendship with those whom are prejudice because I don't want that type of thing around me. I will have those friends decide which that he/she would prefer.
I also know that many people wouldn't be so reckless with ultimatums as this, however this shows how I feel. This shows how strongly I feel against prejudice, and will stand up to it; no matter the cost. This may sound bad, but it is necessary.
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