This post may have seemed to come out of left field, but these thoughts were conceived after reading another post on USM. Yet, after I wrote all of this out, it didn’t really fit the post it was intended for anymore - it turned into something uch bigger - so I didn’t submit it to that post. Therefore, I decided to make a post of my own…
…Any kind of racism is unreasonable at any time. It sounds like I’m stating the obvious, I know. However, it happens all the time; sometimes here. Certain poster’s are judging others, and telling them not to leave comments in their posts because of what the commenter’s religious or political believes may (or may not) be. The only person being hurt by this is the one who’s missing out on the opinions of others.
I grew up in a family where prejudice against different races was okay; where it was accepted (not my parents, mind you, but others). As a child I thought it was alright; that racism was no big deal (not that I ever agreed with it, just that it wasn’t a big deal). Thankfully, I was able to use my brain and think correctly, and know that it is a very big deal; many people who grow up in these environments get trapped within these irrational ideas, and continue the cycle. Certain people, of course, don’t have a mind of their own.
A community only moves forward when everyone is working together. Disagreements are just fine; they are vital to moving ahead actually, yet hatred destroys any type of success. And, let me say this, I do understand the word frustration. I understand it very well. I suffered from depression when I was younger, and frustration comes along with that. Yet, I always held that aggravation inside myself. Even at my young age I was mature enough to realize that I couldn’t hurt other people because I was hurting. That would be irresponsible of me, and unfair to them.
I’ll be the first to admit, I have much to learn about forgiveness; love; and life in general still. I do feel slightly hypocritical writing this – that’s a feeling I don’t like because I try, and most of the time succeed, in being an honest and principled person – because I do have a certain amount of hate within me. This is reserved for the horrible people of society such as violent criminals, terrorist and such. No matter how much I want to forgive these people I can’t do it. But that’s a weakness I have to deal with, and maybe – possibly – one day overcome.
However, I have come to a point in my life where I’m truly happy, and one of the reasons – I would say the number one reason I feel this way – is that I’ve accepted people into my life that I may not necessarily agree with politically or religiously. And, I’ve grown a great deal because of this. If I discriminated against someone for something that they had said in a post, or something that they said to me in person; or was nasty to them without getting to know what makes them tick, I would only be hurting myself. And, frankly, I’ve learned, that that hurt would have been detrimental large way. By getting to know certain people, life has become bliss.
Love is the way to go, no matter what the opinions a person may harbor, or what their skin color is, or what their religion is, or what their sexual ordination is… whatever. Like I said earlier, disagreements are alright, restrictions – for the betterment of a community, and restrictions that everyone can agree with (like USM’s G rating) – are just fine too. But putting limitations on people for the soul purpose of keeping their thoughts and ideas away from a conversation, due to the fact that they don’t mesh with your thoughts, is always wrong.
In closing… USM is always GREAT, lol <3
56359 Category:(Discussion) Created:(8/19/2008 4:17:00 PM)