A Service of The Arrow             Saturday October 15, 2000

    Existing in a high school opens one up to a large amount of discrimination. Everyday, one experiences or sees the intolerance of those that wish to disparage others because they are different. Discrimination affects how one lives and reacts, and to an extent how one treats others.

    Mahatma Gandhi’s teaching state "you must be the change you wish to see in the world," and if we wish to live in a tolerant world, we must be such. To see the problem we must examine what tolerance is, why it is so hard to have it, and what we can do to obtain tolerance.

    Tolerance is the fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, sexuality, nationality, associations, etceteras, differ from one’s own and the freedom from bigotry. This means one does not have to have complete acceptance of others, although that’s best.    

    We needs to recognize that the individual is who they are.

    We are always told to be different is good, but are never taught how to accept these differences. The Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated," has lost all deep meaning and has become a platitude. Everyone knows it, but even with this knowledge, we lack any way of applying it. One just has to listen to the comments students make about other students; the remarks made to upset others, and the reactions between these students to realize this. I realize comments will always be made, however there is a definite break between the acceptable and unacceptable.

    When one tries to belittle another student just because they are different, they have lost all validity in any statement they make concerning that student. They become an extension of every atrocity committed by man, and become a sad object of humanity.

    To be able to tolerate others one must realize that one has to make a paradigm shift and alter their ways of thinking at times. This does not mean one has to abandon their values, but realize that not everyone is the same way they are. They need to look past the difference and look at what is the same, and through this, they can come to tolerate the differences.

    The worst thing is that people who attack others for being different from them, are just as different from the other person, as well as billions of other people in this world. The best way to begin tolerance is to think about how you would feel in the same situation, because you never know when you will be in that situation.

    Youth throughout the country hide their real selves and live behind a "mask" for the purpose of avoiding intolerance, the mocking of others, and the comments of those that wish not to hide their bigotry and ignorance. They pick their associations on how other people will react, and never get to know people they would like to and live their lives trying earnestly to please others so they will not be mocked. With this, they forget the most important thing, to live for themselves. The worst aspect is the greatest forces to stop intolerance are the good people who remain silent because silence is the greatest failure of tolerance.

—senior Jeremy Fredericks

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