Brenda Anaya

English 11
Paul Healy
December 3, 2013

Sermon #29- Acceptance and Intolerance

Six billion people live together on this earth. Instead of working together to make the
earth a better place, we are dividing each other into groups based on how we look and where we
are from. Despite not having any correlation between our behavior and our appearance, some
people make assumptions of others based on one person. By creating these assumptions, we are
harming these other people and missing out on what they can offer in the world. The way we
were raised and our actions define us better as a person rather than our appearance. Everyone
should be accepting of others for who they are despite where they come from or how they look.
Among all of us, as people from different ethnic groups, there are stereotypes that are
meant to define us for who we are. Those stereotypes follow us throughout our lives like the
shadows we cast. When we least expect it, that very shadow can consume more of the light in
our lives. Children can be bullied, people can be rejected from jobs, and there would be more
intolerance. By letting these assumptions and stereotypes be created, we are all losing
opportunities and being put down because of the low expectations we are meant to have. The
consequences of excluding and discriminating against people will cause more trouble than we
can imagine.
As people who live on the earth, we might feel that the act of exclusion and
discrimination is normal or cant be helped , but think of this: What is normal for the spider
is chaos for the fly. Referring back to the quote, if discrimination is normal then it causes
trouble to the group that is being discriminated against. There are examples of discrimination and
intolerance in our history that caused chaos among groups of people like the Holocaust and the
Rwandan genocide. Rwanda was first colonized by the Europeans as the other countries in
Africa. Those same European colonists decided to segregate the Rwandans into two groups,
called the Hutus and the Tutsis, based on simple characteristics like height and noose length. The
Tutsis were claimed superior to the other and went out of control with the power they were
granted. People who lived in the same place for many years turned against each other. Based
only on the superiority that was placed onto them, these people were killing each other. Once the
roles were switched and the Hutus were now superior, they had no mercy. More lives of innocent
people were taken away because of this superiority due to the normality of discrimination.
Overall, people are raised in different ways despite where they come from. Others
assume that all people from the same place behave the same way when its not true. As a result,
people will be excluded or discriminated against in different levels of severity from bullied to the
act of genocide. We must embrace the differences of others despite what society makes of them.
Open-mindedness will help us achieve a more accepting atmosphere by helping everyone see
through the eyes of others and creating a mutual respect for one another. In our own school, there
are several different groups of students that come from different places. Despite what labels
society may put on them, we understand each others struggles and are understanding of them.
Students respect one another for their perseverance in demonstrating who they really are instead
of letting their appearance speak for them. If we continue down this path, we will keep harming
others and force them to believe that they are no better compared to another group. When in
reality, everyone is capable of accomplishing the same thing because we are equal.