Up@dawn 2.0

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Installment of the final report #1- "This I Believe"

By: Alek Oberkirsch

The first time I witnessed intolerance was when I was in first grade, on September 11th, 2001. Just because a few people of a certain extreme group committed a horrid act, everyone that fell under the broad category of the religion of the attackers were blamed and shunned. Soon as I got older I saw more intolerance in the world, people being judged by the color of their skin, ethnicity, sexuality. People growing more and more intolerant of other people's religions, traditions, and political views. People burning other's flag, protesting against other's rights, threatening to kill and eliminate people who's views are not the same as their own. Intolerance is engulfing the world into chaos and madness with what seems to be no end in sight. This I believe that people from around the world need to relearn tolerance and respect for one another. This world is big but it is not that big with life being so short, why create a hell on Earth for people who you consider different. Why discipline a religion over a few nut jobs? Why limit someone's rights because their skin is a different shade or that they redefined what marriage is? Why shun people who's view on how a country should be run is different from yours? Why not embrace them? Why not come to a philosophical, sociological, and psychological understanding of why people are who they are and just accept them, instead of changing them. Embrace new ideas, embrace change, embrace tolerance and respect for your fellow human beings.

1 comment:

  1. Vanessa Beard-012 FINAL REPORT INSTALLMENT 1
    I never received an invitation to become an author after I put my email in during class, so I guess I just have to type it here.

    I believe in people. I believe that each of us can leave the world better than he found it. By this I don’t mean that we all have to do something incredibly profound like curing cancer or ending world hunger; I just mean using your abilities to impact the life of at least one person even if it is after you die. I believe that the way we live our lives, the way we treat people matters. My favorite aspect of human nature is our ability to grow and adapt to new things – sorry for the scientific nature of that statement, I’m a biochemistry major. People have the power to change each other’s mind about things. I believe that diversity is an asset and not a curse no matter how much of a burden it may seem sometimes. Growing up in a culturally diverse family, I have the privilege of having eyes that see people and not just race or ethnicity. I have endured the struggle of each of the cultures I proudly call my own, and that has only made me a stronger person. I don’t expect to be a Martin Luther King Jr. or anything, but I hope that my life and how I live it impacts someone somewhere to follow his dreams and pursue his goals. More than anything, I am intrigued by people and how different we all are, yet we can all come together and do amazing things. Take natural disasters for example: populations band together in their time of need for a common good, but what if people did that for enduring issues like poverty? That would certainly make a change, and I believe that people can do this.

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