Each of us as a child, were taught that we have to respect one another. We had to learn how to share our crayons and our toys, but as we became older, where did the innocence go?
We went from accepting our peers, to rejecting those friends who turn out to be different from us.
We at the Clarion want to talk about human rights and the need for people to be open to differences and move pass them.
With Sinclair having such a diverse population, often we find that some students, faculty and staff members use these differences to ridicule and mistreat others.
Don’t get us wrong, we feel that we all have an inherent right to voice our opinions and be heard, but we often reject the ideas and opinions of those that we disagree with.
How can we implore others to listen to our beliefs, if we don’t respect the beliefs of others?
Even outside of Sinclair it is apparent that the hatred and the mistreatment of one particular group has not changed.
In Sept. 2001, Muslim men took a plane hostage and crashed it into the World Trade Center. The aftermath – some people believed that all Muslims that practiced Islam were preaching a slew of hatred and evil.
But Muslims are quick to point out that the true meaning of Islam is about giving and peace.
Many people have their own misconceptions about Hispanics as well. We hear people all the time saying that ‘they have to learn how to speak our language.’
We listen to songs on our iPods as we scurry about but we can’t take a few seconds to listen to the person standing right in front of us.
The gay community is one group of people who are directly affected by this problem.
Two months ago, Jamie Rodemeyer, 14, committed suicide because he was gay.
In the gay community, suicide rates have gone up because some suffer from self-loathing, taunting and bullying. The isolation is stifling.
But the gay community is quick to point out that they just want to be respected and not be told that they have the choice to change their sexual orientation.
We all can have these viewpoints that isolate and harm another group, whether we intend to do it or not. . We want to be taken seriously, why not take the time to listen and respect a different opinion than our own?