John Myers Writes About Prejudice and Tolerance for Gays
There are as many prejudices in our society as there are traits in an individual. John Myers, a writer for Yahoo Associated Content, put it very eloquently in his article, National Coming Out Day: An Opportunity for Gays to Break Down Prejudice Once and for All. This article touches not only on prejudice towards the Gay community, but also about prejudice in general.
What difference does it make what a person is? We were all put on this earth together. Our differences should be celebrated, because without those differences this would be a very dull, sanitary, scary place. It would be like living in Stepford. If you're a good, honest, loyal person, I would want you as a friend in my life. I wouldn't care what your color or sexual preference might be. Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who don't think the same way.
The problem then becomes how do you change people to be more accepting? That's a big job. There is a lot of fear that drives a person's feelings towards different groups. Can we as decent human beings change other people's perceptions? I'd like to think so, but it's not an easy thing to do.
It starts with one person saying to themselves that they will start to be more tolerant of other human beings. That one person would need to commit themselves to speaking up whenever they encounter discrimination, trying to teach others that the prejudices being exhibited are not right, teaching our children to tolerate all types of people, and that we don't make fun of or abuse anyone. You don't have to agree with a person's lifestyle, but you do need to respect and have tolerance for the individual. You have to recognize the individual right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. According to our Declaration of Independence these are the sovereign rights of an individual. These are the precepts under which our nation was formed.
We will never be able to completely change the world, but we can make a difference if we stand up for what we believe in. John Myers stood up for his beliefs and he does it every day. That's an example we should all follow.
It all starts with one person. Let that person be you.
Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/91700/john_myers.htmlhttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5878066/national_coming_out_day_an_opportunity.html?cat=48&com=2#comments
Published by Pat Bartels
Previously employed in the Human Resources field, Pat enjoys traveling and tweaking computers when she is not writing articles for Associated Content and Factoidz. She is fascinated with personal finance, th... View profile
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16 Comments
Post a CommentIf people minded their own business more instead of trying to push their own personal values on anyone else, then we wouldn't be so prejudice, I think. We are all different, and not one of us believes the same exact thing as the person next to us, and so long as you are not harming anyone else, do what you do and be who you are and stop peeking over other people's fences :)
Tolerance is an idea that should be spread around more often. Great job.
Speaking up doesn't always work. Some people are so bull-headed that if you stand up for anything, the first thing they want to do is fight with you about it. I do agree with what you say about celebrating our differences. I've always wondered why we have to merely tolerate each other. If we were all the same, we'd be clones of each other. Who wants that?
This doesn't pertain particularly or solely to the gay issue -- but I don't believe people should be accused of "hate" simply for disagreeing with each other. If it goes further than a simple verbal disageement of ideas, that's a different story.
Great work, Pat and John!
Totally agree - great article!
This article has a message so important for all of us to hear! I am angered & saddened by people who will not accept others. Such a simple thing to just love one another. If only we could do that the world would be a much better place. :)
Great article. Too many haters
Funny, I just wrote a poem along those lines. Some say I'm too idealistic. Maybe so, but I'd rather live in hope than take the opposite road. Great piece of work!
It's much easier to change the younger generations than those more set in their behaviours. This is why is is essential that our teachers of youth demonstrate acceptance, as John does. We need to let our youthe see and be taught by a diverse group of individuals, so that they can personally relate to people with different ethnicty, sexual oritentation, religious views, etc. This is a far better education than being isolated to interacting only with people "like themselves"!