Until a person has experienced discrimination, they don’t understand it. It is much like heart break. If a person has never been heartbroken, then they have a shallow understanding of how it feels. As a woman, I feel like I constantly see the world around me as a huge mathematical equation: proposing my weaknesses and value. I also contend with what everyone believes I should be or do. I should be a hard worker, a wife, a mother, delicate, submissive, a house cleaner, a cook, etc. Some may even believe that I should be at home with children. Some people believe that I shouldn’t care about my education or career because I am a woman. They believe it is less important because my husband can work and provide for me. Right? At large the same population of predominant males of yesterday have influenced their children and those children influenced their children. Women have also been a part of this train of thought. We still make less per hour on average than men by our own reluctance to say something. On top of the lineage of the matter: all of the generations are living longer!! So, we have a very slow deterriation of masoginistic views, as well as race discrimination. Now, don’t get me wrong: I am not of the opinion that white men and women are all the same or that we haven’t made a lot of progress over the years. However, there are still distinct intolerances towards minorities and women that exist. We need to spend time educating our population on multiculturalism and diversity. Everyone has different points of view and opinions. Rightly so: let yourself be free but also let others. If you are so wonderful and perfect that you think that your views and opinions are better than entire populations, (maybe) you are interpreting freedom differently than freedom intends. Not everyone will be raised the same….look the same…..believe the same…..or make decisions the same……but those that are different from you are people too. How dare people think that they are more important because of their race, status, and opportunity. Your life is the same as someone else’s. You will make bad judgement calls and mistakes just as any other human will. The skin or form of another person doesn’t determine their ability to be walked on or looked down upon. Today, we are in denial that there is discrimination in the world. And people shrug it off as a complaint that people make in order to get special treatment. Listen: it is a cry for equality. I was told recently that if I spoke with a deeper tone that people would respect me more. The sembelence of a man projects more profoundly than that of a woman. I already knew this, but those words were resounding. I could not avoid them ringing in my mind over and over again. If you don’t understand discrimination and the innateness of the treatment of those around you, then you haven’t opened your eyes. Step back and watch how people are treating each other around you. Think about the mixture of groups within corporations, management, and at your personal affairs. Decide if there is equality within your world. Think about who you avoid in the world and why. If we don’t start exposing ourselves to each other from one breathing human to another: we will surely never have equality. We must think and speak as equals in order for our children to do so. Do you want your children to help others or to help themselves ? Do you want your daughter to grow up making less than a man for the same amount of work? What if your daughter is a professional and told to get a manager coffee when she is herself an executive of a company? Do you want your children to talk over people of other races and to overlook their value based on the color of their skin? I hope the answer is no. There is more to this world than each of us deems “acceptable” or “normal.” Don’t base your judgement upon what your parents thought or incidents with individuals. Base it on facts, then back it up with your heart.