What's Happening?

I was watching the news this morning while getting ready for work and there was a news story about 9 gang members attacking a gay teen as a initiation ritual. And then immediately after that story there was another about a candidate for NY office who said at a press conference it's not fair to teach our children it's okay to be gay. After all that's been happening on the news with gay intolerance, I'm becoming a bit confused. Last time I checked we were in the 21st Century, right? When did it become okay to be publicly prejudice again? Haven't we spent the last, I don't know, 30-40 years teaching children it's okay to be yourself? Wouldn't that mean if you were gay, Muslim, or anything else? And it doesn't end here!

First, it was the mosque 'near' Ground Zero. Then, we're all burning Qurans on 9-11. Now this? Americans are becoming extremely intolerant...and ask I myself two questions:

1. Why is this all happening?
2. How much worse is it going to get?

I wish I could answer these questions. My mother said something that rang kind of true...she said that some of can't even fathom that others could possibly have a different opinion other than the one they already have. I think that kind of explains a lot of things as to why all this violence is occurring. We have become such a self centered group of people that we can't even step back from ourselves to see what's around us. Geez! My own family(extended) openly insulted me at the dinner table by saying that I make too much money, have too many perks and too much freedom at my job. HELLO?!?! Wouldn't you WANT that for your loved ones???

I blame the Internet and the product of fear. In a world where we can google ANYTHING from the comfort of our own home, we have the power to really limit ourselves with the value of knowledge we allow ourselves to absorb. Instead of going outside the confines of our comfort zone, and getting a real perspective, we stay safe in our cocoons (because the news tells us it's scary out there!) and continue to feed ourselves with what we already know. It's kind of like preaching to our own choir. And what's interesting about all of this, much of education today is driven by self-reflection and the 'experience' of learning. Ask any student, at any age level, and I promise you they keep at least one type of self-reflective journal. Social responsibility is becoming a major part of the learning process.

I hate to say it, but if we don't start taking a hard look at ourselves in the mirror to see how we individually contribute to this world (thank you social networking for destroying that), we're fucked. We, as a society can no longer hide under the blanket of generalities. We have to own our own thoughts. I really hope someone who is bigoted finds this blog and changes their perspective. Call me the eternal optimist, but there's a lot of good out there to be enjoyed. You just have to step out your door and open your eyes to see it.




Sorry for the Twilight reference! ;)