I am shuddering. I have come to know my nation has an illness that is deep and pervasive. I have fought against the illness for decades; thought we had beat one of the beasts 50 years ago but it is alive and well in 2018. I am heart sick.
The illness? Deep-seated discrimination against people who are different from others.
It is racism if someone feels superior to another solely based on race. It is racism regardless of ethnicity, skin color, or nationality. Racism. An ugly word. I thought we had outlived this horror.
It is sexism if someone feels superior to the opposite sex. If you respect women but see them as a commodity or object of desire without boundaries, then you are a sexist. The opposite is true as well; if you are a woman who belittles men, you are sexist.
Homophobes discriminate against people with same-sex orientation. They demonize such persons without understanding the difference and why it is so.
Discrimination against anyone who is different is an illness. It can be short people or tall, disabled or fully abled, red-haired or gray-haired, or any of hundreds of other differences we all have at one time or another throughout life. Maybe it is lack of education, poor body hygiene or clothing choice; all are surface issues that differentiate people. It is not right to feel better than anyone else, and certainly wrong as hell to treat them poorly because of the difference.
We are all of the human race. That makes us all the same fundamentally. The differences are elements of our humanity that make us individuals and enhance the human experience.
I'm terrible at technology but appreciate it. I especially appreciate anyone who can navigate the complexities of today's modern technology.
The same with people who make beautiful music with the talents they have, unafraid of what others think of their efforts. It is their expression of reality. It is beautiful to many others, just not all. That's OK. It adds to the complexities and wonders of life.
We should celebrate all of our differences.
Discrimination is not celebration. It is demeaning, often dangerous and harms the person loved most - you.
Society is sick if it allows this to continue. It becomes more sick if we do not stand up to it and defeat it. And yes, we encourage it if we laugh at sick jokes about it.
It is time, America. Stand up against all forms of discrimination. All. Ageism, sexism, racism, different-ism. All are debilitating of our social order.
Stand for respect.
September 24, 2018
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