The Power of One
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This week I'm going to bring discrimination and Tolerance to the table. Where it starts........
Pinked Haired Girls Are Bad!!
Did I convince you? This is how it starts. One person says something and others follow that way of thinking, hence the title of my column, The Power of One. I am currently reading a book called, Can It Happen Again? Chronicles Of The Holocaust. In this book there is a small story called The Greenies, by William Goodykoontz. I enjoyed the way it was told so much that I am going to share it with my readers but re-wording it into my own words and changing the title to Pink Haired Girls instead of Greenies and when you tell it you can also change the name to what you seem fit.
Suzie Doe, for as long as she could remember, always thought that pink haired girls were bad. As a child she was told by her mother that all pink haired girls were bad and to stay away from them. Pink haired girls did not live in her neighborhood, go to her church, eat at the same restaurants as her family or go to her school. Whenever Suzie Doe would see a pink haired girl in passing a fear would seize over her and she would make sure she had nothing to do with that pink haired girl. As Suzie got older, she noticed that everyone that her family associated with also make a great effort to let her know that pink haired girls were not accepted inside their realm and that there was no tolerance for pink haired girls because they were bad. They were evil and the world could do without them.
When Suzie was older she often wondered what really was the deal with the hatred for Pink haired girls so she asked her mother. Her mother shot her a look of "omg, did you just try to say something nice about a pink haired girl?" kinda look, but answered Suzie's question. When Mom Doe was a child there was a pink haired girl that use to pick on her all the time. Also, when Mom Doe got into college she was dorm mates with a pink haired girl and this pink haired girl stole her boyfriend. Finally, when Mom Doe was up for her first raise at her Law firm, a pink haired woman that started after her got the promotion first. Suzie Doe, being intelligent enough, finally put two and two together. Mom Doe said pink haired girls were bad when in fact the whole reasoning behind these accusations was that Mom Doe was just discriminating against the pink haired girls because they are who stood out in her life by hurting Mom Doe.
Like a snowball starting at the top of a hill, it gets bigger and bigger as it rolls down to the bottom, where it comes to a stop bigger than a house. This is how discrimination and non-tolerance starts. Once it starts you tend to surround yourself around people that feel as passionate about what you believe in. That is why Suzie believed theses stories about bad pink haired girls because Suzies parents raised the family to think those thoughts and went out of their way to have no involvement with any pink haired girls.
If Suzie's mom had never told her those reasons, Suzie would of told her children the same stories and she very well may still because it was drilled into her head her whole life, she will always look at pink haired girls and wonder until she takes the time to find out herself, which could be even later in her life when her children are already grown and believing the same thing.
This is an example of how we struggle on a daily basis about our sexuality. People just assume the worst of "gay people", hence the thought of when woman find out another woman is a Lesbian, they automatically assume we like them and will hit on them. Obviously, someone has instilled that into there line of thinking so all Lesbian woman are stereotyped to that one individual.
What can we as individuals do about this? Well, my friends...we can start that snowball ourselves! Tomorrow, wake up saying..."I am going to start saying something positive about something that I know nothing about to someone just out of the blue". This is how it starts, and it is not just for gays either! Its all types of people, cultures, religions and beliefs. You can start with your nieces , you nephews, cousins, friends and co-workers. Most people in our society are followers, there are very few leaders but............
If Someone Leads, Others Will Follow!!!
Thank you for visiting this week! Please send all responses or ideas to keeku34@yahoo.com or visit me at http://www.myspace.com/lauriemcgee
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Gay People Are Cool!!!
I work in the restaurant industry as a server. Today at work one of my gay guy friends came up to me and said, "Laurie, that boy is going to be a "flamer". He was talking about a customer that was sitting at someone else's table with some other people. We laughed about it and went on with our other duties. About an hour later, the server that was working the table came up to me (a guy) really excited telling me how the young kids left him $8.00. Now, I am open at work so when I feel the need I always comment positivety on my family. I smiled at him and proceeded to tell him how gay people are cool like that! He kinda looked confused so I elaborated a little by telling him that it's a secret code of the gay honor to tip good. He was really thinking about this comment and finally said, "wow, really?, do you guys get together and make up these codes?" I started laughing again and said, "no, it's just in the rule book of "gayship". I really had this guy going, so I really started to feed into my own sarcastic humor and continued to tell him how when gay people come out of the closet they are handed a little gay bible of rules and regulations and how some of us even attend the RULES OF BEING GAY IN PUBLIC class room teachings. As he sat there staring at me I still continued to elaborate by telling him that in our book it tells us how in the Webster dictionary it defines gay as happy so gay people aren't suppose to be sad, mad or show frustration towards straight people in public. I couldn't help but walk away so I wouldn't laugh in his face. I really wanted him to believe my stories and to pass the word on to everyone he came in contact with. At the end of our shift he walked up to me and said, "Laurie, that is so neat that you guys have a little family network and that you actually get handbooks and all, they ought to do that with straight people because it really does seem like gay people always seem so happy. I smiled and said, yea, your right, straight people just don't get it, do they?
If you have any comments or suggestion contact me at keeku34@yahoo.com or http://www.lauriemcgee/myspace.com
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