Race is a funny thing. We discriminate people by their skin colour and facial features, rather than by the acts that they do. Psychologically we fit people into categories to make our lives easier, but in this act we lose opportunities to know people by who they are.
Many people are judged by their skin tone. There are times where these judgements are entirely wrong. An African American man is not necessarily a thief or a thug, he may be a very successful businessman. An Asian man may not be talented at math or science, he may be a writer, a poet of the ages - in Russian.
To judge one by ones birth, to assume that their genetics are representative of their acts and future, people would never move up. Rags to riches would simply be a fairy tale that people dream of.
We use race to categorise people to make our lives simpler. Perhaps we can live with a bit of confusion about others simply to appreciate others for who they are, rather than something as silly as race.
On Friday and Saturday, I volunteered for my hours collecting money for the Clearbrook foundation. While I do not have a photograph, my phone had run out of battery, I do have quite some things to say about it. On Friday, the first time I had ever done this, I brought along a friend because I thought I would be horribly bored. In earnest, however, I honestly would have been.
Mostly, I was surprised. I had never donated any money to the people standing outside of a store, so I didn't expect people to donate much. I was shocked by the number of people who stopped and dropped some spare change into the can. At first it was a little unusual to be simply standing there asking for money, I realized I had officially become a solicitor, but on Saturday it was less weird feeling.
It did get boring simply standing there. Both days, however, one of the people working at the store putting shopping carts away began to chat to my friend and me. They weren't always polite, but then again people tend to not be polite to solicitors.
The people who donated were all very kind, some of them did it to get candy for their children. Most simply stuffed a dollar bill or a few coins (at one point we received a flattened out penny from Ohio) and walked away. Still, the small sentiment surely means much for the foundation.
All in all, while it was a satisfactory experience, the chances of me repeating this activity are slim. I'd rather volunteer in some other way, instead of asking for money outside of a Jewel Osco.
People are linked together in ways that they may not even think to consider. While it is true that each of our skin colours may be wildly different, it does not dictate how we must behave. It counts where we are raised that forms how we behave, how we were raised, when we were raised. And while it is true that two siblings may be raised similarly but grow to be wildly different, it just shows how much diversity their is even within your ethnic or racial group.
Crash does a good job of showing the link between all the characters. Graham Waters in particular showed the difference in social class within his own family, the pride that comes with being in a lower class family - an unusual one where you feel a gain from being with those of the same economic status rather than aiming for something higher. His mother and brother were proud of their standing, and felt as though Graham had abandoned them.
The locksmith who was wrongfully accused of being a criminal, almost shot and killed by Dorri's father. Dorri's father, accused of being a terrorist by the gun salesman. The Korean man who was involved with human trafficking, all these people were of different race and they all differed from their stereotype.
In the present day, we see people and instantly categorize them, it's simply how our brain works. When someone differs, it seems to throw us for a loop. The diversity, however, is what makes each one of us unique. Some people may align more towards the stereotype, some people may break away entirely. Our race does not dictate who we are, nor does our social class. Instead, we form our own personality as we consider ourselves into society, and the way we like to be.
If you are a "typical" Caucasian, heterosexual male or female, the things that you may not be aware of are shocking. Some things seem fake because of the severity of the situation, or because of how harsh people can be. In reality though, the things humans are oblivious to are frightening. We hear tragedies of how a rising sports star was shot to death because of an unfortunate turn of events in the city, a simple situation of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Horrifically though, the things that don't make the news, the things that aren't news because of the prevalence of how much it is happening, many times these are the things that are the worst.
In this video, it is a society where homosexuality is the norm. Should someone say that "heterophobia" exists, this video shows that the mere concept is simply impossible. Please note that the video may be triggering to certain audiences.
The things that certain individuals are put through is so impossible to imagine, this video can only glimpse at it. Perhaps we say that this is no longer true, that America is a more accepting society.
Reality hits that we are not. We live in a very liberal and accepting society, here in this spot in the States. However, other places are more represented by the video. Sometimes we think that our small little area is representative of the entire States as a whole, but the truth is: it's not. We can wish and hope that it is, but the soft truth that we might try and ignore is that the world can be a terrible place.
Perhaps we are wasting our time overseas killing innocents and soldiers, losing lives to a war better fought within our own nation. Perhaps we can settle the differences within our own selves before moving on to others.
The taboos we set in our country is a part of our culture. It is something that ties is together as a society and distinguishes us from cultures around the world.
Just like our customs that are embraced around the world, the festivals or holidays we may celebrate, these taboos are also a part of the package. Yet we are not quite as tolerable over taboos. If someone were to celebrate something that was taboo in our society, we would be completely outraged. Likely, we would end up shunning that society as well as the holiday.
Even swearing in hand gestures could be a completely normal thing in another society. We see our society as the centre of the universe, while others are simply cast to the side as irrelevant.
Morrie lived his life in a particularly unique way. While most of prepare to die by trying to accomplish as many things as possible, or to try and make a meaning out of one's life, Morrie lived instead as Man with life. He lived in the moment, appreciating everything that he had until the very end.
It makes one wonder how we would view the world if that was the way that everyone lived all the time. Would we see the world in a different life? Would we be more positive, more energetic, more... More? Are we simply lacking in things which Morrie was not?
There is no way for sure to know, as two people cannot live the same life. We are hard wired with our beliefs, though they may change some personalities allow for life to be lived like Morrie, and those who chose to live their lives the way they dictate.
We are all suffering from an incurable disease called Age. It is terminal, and the span of this disease ranges from a few days to decades. It is simply a way of how you deal with it.
There is an astounding amount of pressure put onto males and females from a young age. There are always people complaining about such and there should be something done to change the way society has evolved. With technology comes the power to do many more things, and with that comes the need to project oneself to ascertain that dominance once more. Particularly, this is evident in males.
Males have always been portrayed as the dominant role in a societal community. When it boils down, imagining a female overpowering a male for anything is generally something sought after rather than a norm. Perhaps in some countries it is a norm now, but since the dawn of civilisation, men have had more "reputation" among their peers.
The violence prevalent in modern day stems from the way that we have progressed in technology, the way that we have progressed with certain rights. Perhaps once ago when women were still repressed without rights, men did not feel such a need to exert dominance. But now that women are slowly growing to equal footing, men are slowly in need to express themselves and to give themselves power once more.
In each of us is the insecurity that eats away at us, registered by the media's portrayal of what a man or woman should be, rather than what each individual is. Women seek beauty while men seek power, it's simply the coping device that we all use to make ourselves feel adequate as our individual selves.
