Bigotry Can Lead To A Group Of One

Posted by JCE

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Bigotry is an incredibly pervasive part of our society yet it is rarely discussed other than to be used as a sort of epithet at someone else. Growing up in the Midwest my environment was so white as to be albino. No blacks, no hispanics, no nothing - white people as far as the eye could see. During the winter it was hard to tell anyone lived there. Then de-seg hit and OMG! black kids where in my school. After about 5 minutes we all found out they were just like us. But I also discovered that bigotry goes far, far beyond race. I was raised in a religion not predominant in this area so upon arriving at high school (from a parochial grade school) I was faced with a special brand of bigotry reserved for the non-Catholics. As I got a little older I was faced with the bigotry of zip code, gender, lifestyle choices, hobbies, intellect...you name it and there is a group out there who hates you for it.

Much of the bigotry I have encountered is based not on ignorance, but fear. Fear of finding out that the "others" might be just like "us" and then "we" won't be special anymore. Here is a news flash: We aren't special. We are what we are. Many of us have families and/or friends that love us and we are certainly unique in our own ways but we aren't special. (We aren't even all that special as a species unless if by special you mean inconsiderate, selfish, egocentric nutjobs.)

Here is another news flash: Being 'special' isn't all that important.

Regardless of whether or not you think we were put here for a purpose, the goal is to make the time here as enjoyable as possible without hurting others or infringing on their rights. If someone can actually manage to do that, I would say that person is pretty damn special. But none of us ever seem to manage that - call it sin, call it human nature, call it whatever, we suck most of the time and it would be nice if we could eventually reach the point where we stop singling others out in order to boost our own egos.

So, here is my holiday wish for all of us: Try to act like a chimpanzee.

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