Learning Tolerance No Matter Our Differences

One of the first times I truly listened with tolerance enough to learn began in 1960 during a freshman American history class. My instructor Mr. H( as we called him) discussed being the son of European immigrants who were mistreated and came to America for religious and economic freedom. His grandfather's came to Appalachia and married Native American and African women soon after arriving in America. His family stories of severe poverty, no freedom in their home lands, and the heartache of being hated sincerely touched my mind, heart, and soul. Learning about the human tragedies throughout our America and the rest of the world's hardships such as people starving, homeless and being killed out of hatred -changed my life. This teacher brought American history to students with pictures of his family as he explained the devastating lives his ancestors had before and after coming to America for freedom . I really had never considered anyone else's hardships except for my immediate families painful stories nor had I ever discussed the pain of discrimination toward with anyone. I began to understand that learning meant freedom. He was a first generation American who was very proud.

My parents and grandparents told of how our mixed racial and religious ancestors had been spat on, beaten, disgraced publicly everyday and some killed in Europe and America. As a child I witnessed first hand disgusting treatment against my immediate family but thought everyone just hated us for no reason . Examples from my own family were that some folks hated my family without even knowing us. They hated and spat at my Mother because she was Scotch Irish Native American and European heritage with purple blue eyes and brown skin, many threw rocks at my older brother because he loved school and sports, had tight jet black curly hair, but he fought back. Strangers hated my grandfather's because they spoke broken English and were different religions and called them " ignorant foreigners" even though they were Naturalized American citizens. I was called "four eyes and dummy" because of my limited vision, my youngest brother was bullied because he was a Special Education student and tried to hard to make friends. My Father was treated like dirt because he was deaf and my foster Father was laughed at because he lost his leg in WWII. Why is this disrespect tolerated by anyone who is witnesses it? Who is going to stop this hatred when it happens instead of waiting for someone else to help?

I knew as a child that hatred was against everything that America stood for and yet on a daily basis I saw people dishonoured by senseless hatred of our differences. Families in America and throughout the world disown each other because of their differences about religion, race, and politics. I did not realize until many class sessions and after school discussions just how horrid life was in what we call the United States of America for the most people. Shouldn't we all be outraged over hatred?All of my instructors in high school and throughout my higher education had textbooks and suggested extra readings for all of us to learn but many choose not to change their behaviour towards others. My new learning brought self-awareness that created a hunger in me to understand people's hardships and why some hate other's for no " constitutional reason". During my continued learning journeys I began to seek out authors who would answer some of my questions about human struggles for true human rights, liberty, and happiness.

My first college professor in 1965 gave me four assignments that were non-graded and just for my own learning. My First Self- Learning Assignments : Keep a journal of my own responses to other's so I know what I need to change in my own behaviour before I start asking other's to change. 1). I learned that I was afraid of tall people and would not talk to them alone for fear they would hurt me in some way. I was shocked at how stupid that was of me to lump all tall people together. 2). My instructor noted that I had listed in my journal that "people who smell are bad people". I don't know where I got that stupid thought but I worked hard to get rid of my prejudice, bias and stop stereotyping individuals into "groups of bad people". My professor said "Perhaps they did not have a home, bath tub, or worked at a hard dirty job? I felt so foolish and just downright ignorant. 3). My next self learning assignment was, "Find out what the SCOPES trials were about ? I had never heard of the SCOPES trials but cried throughout learning about them . 4). This fourth and last assignment was to locate the nearest ACLU office and interview them about human rights and our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

After these assignments I knew in my heart what a true American is and my entire life changed dramatically to the good. These tremendous starting points of learning through research gave me understanding of life outside of my own family and opened my eyes as an American. I will forever be indebted to my first true instructors that taught me to learn about myself by doing assignments for real and not memorize just to pass tests.. My message today for reader's is to learn the truths of yourself and other's before you make judgments against another. Know the truth of the history behind your own beliefs, how your actions effect other's lives, and don't take anything for granted to be truth or trustworthy unless you truly study the history of it. . Please review the following lists of suggested readings that are some of my favourites that are just for learning not for testing:)

1) Bedford/Martin's Series of Cherokee Removal

2) Trail of Tears by John Ehle

3) The Irish Potato Famine by John S. Donnelly

4) The Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley

5) Age of Reason by Thomas Payne

6) Walking Toward the Sunset by Wayne Winkler

7) Beyond Tolerance: Searching For Interfaith Understanding in America by Gustav Niebuhr

8) Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives think by George Lakoff

9) The Early Colonists and Colonial Daily Life ... Battledores - Early Reading Books The New England Primer www.teacheroz.com/colonies.htm

10) In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Congratsulations on taking steps of self and other learning for tolerance no matter our differences.