Man in the Mirror

            A man wheels down the street. He has a physical disability to where he is stuck in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Would you have guessed he is one of the smartest men on the planet? His name is Stephen Hawking.

            A frail, forty-two year old African American woman takes a seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She takes a seat in the white section of the bus. A white man told her to move to the back of the bus where she belonged. That day she had had enough. She said no. Would you have guessed she was the mother of the civil rights movement? Her name was Rosa Parks.

            We judge. It’s how we were raised even though you didn’t know it. We singled out the people who we thought we were weird or not quite like us. We create stereotypes also so we can clump the different types of people into groups.

            We read a short story that exposed the negative side of judgment. A black man named Staples was thought to be “a mugger, a rapist, or worse” wherever he went. A woman ran at the sight of him walking down the street. He was thought to be a robber in his own company. He had to watch what he was doing at all times. No one should have to live like this.

            We need to accept everyone. We need to accept their differences. We need to think before we act. We need to observe before we react. We need to think.