Meghan
Normal, IL

I never really thought about race until my mother remarried my stepfather. He constantly talks down about other races that are not white, and he throws around ethnic slurs like they are common, everyday words. He does not seem to care about who he offends, but he should care. Even back when my mom first married him, I knew in my twelve year-old mind that the things he said were not right. When I was twelve, I would plug my ears or walk into another room whenever he would talk badly about another group of people. It upset me because I was not raised to think the same way he does. My real father raised me to think about equality, and how we are all created equal on this Earth. The words and ideals my dad preaches of are much different then the ones my stepfather preaches of. There is love, compassion and kindness in the words my father speaks toward others, and my stepfather spews nothing but hatred and discrimination about our fellow human beings. Everyday my stepfather tries to convince me of his views and that he is right in the way he thinks, and everyday I try to convince him that he is wrong. He tells me that it is better to move backward instead of forward, and I tell him it is better to keep moving forward instead of backward. He says someday when I’m older, I will understand and accept what he means. I tell him that once a mind is open, it is hard for it to close, and that someday when he is older, he will understand what I mean. I never thought about the things my father said until I heard the things my stepfather said. Now I think about how my father is right in saying that we are all human, and we all live on the same planet, so that should be enough to make us all the same.