There is just one race, and that is the Human Race, but we still find tiny differences that are the things that set us apart. If somebody looks or acts different than we do, we immediately classify them as somebody we can't trust. Are we really so naive to think that just because somebody looks different, they are stupid or untrustworthy? Sure, there are people who may be disloyal, or just plain crazy, but you can't judge that by their looks.

We are all connected in one small way, and we can all say that we are human. Yet still, people continue to hate and discriminate against others. African Americans, Asians, Mexicans . . . no matter who you are, we all deserve to be treated as someone with integrity and intelligence.

I read an article in the newspaper that said four men in turbans were shot after 9/11. If they weren't wearing turbans, do you think they would have been killed? These men had wives and children, but just because of the way they looked, all that was snatched away from them, and now their families are mourning their death everyday. Why? Just because they "looked " like they were terrorists because of their turbans. This is not an adequate answer for the pain that the killers have caused in innocent lives. Were the killers punished? Barely, a few years in jail for causing unwanted and unneccesary suffering for these poor human beings.

Another article I read was that there were two men suspected of robbing a store, one was African, and the other was American. Who do you think the Police went after? Of course, the tall black man who people always think commit the crime, but that is totally untrue. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to split up and search for both? But no, we continue to hate and act unfairly towards other fellow human beings. People all around the world continue to hurt others, and that is the reason of the war that is going on right now.

They say that that is the way racists grew up, yet they also grew up around good hearted people, who they could have learned morals and wisdom from. But everybody always chooses to do what everyone else is doing, which is usually the wrong thing. Nobody seems to want to stand up for the people getting hurt or bullied. How many of us have watched other people get hurt? How many of us have shunned someone away because of their differences? How many of us will continue to "lie low" so the same discrimination won't happen to them? Too many, even one person is too many. We all think somebody else will take care of it, but we all have to take care of it. We can never leave it to someone else, or nothing will ever happen. You have the power to make a difference, we all do.

I still do not understand why people have hate against fellow human beings, and nobody I have ever talked to has given me an answer. Ask yourself, are we really so different? We have to find it in our hearts to accept those around us, to look past the vision we see on the outside because that's all it is, a vision. Instead, look into their hearts and minds, search for the things that really make us good people. Find the love and companionship that is lurking in everybody's heart, even if it doesn't seem like it. We all have hearts, and it's time we learn to use them.