I went to Catholic school my whole life. From preschool through high school.

The high school I went to definitely had divided political beliefs, but we embraced it. Instead of having a divide, we came together with clubs supporting voter registration and activism in your party of choice. We had a civics course and government course that required us to volunteer for campaigns.

On the religious side of things, we were required to complete service hours and it encouraged us to make change, learn about different cultures, and become involved. Throughout my time at Catholic school, I never was targetted by my race, political beliefs, or my view on religion.

It was not until I went to college outside of California that I started seeing changes in how people react to diversity. I am proud to have been raised in an environment that would have shut down and owned up to any severe or harmful actions their students would take.

In the era of a racial and political divide, it is important to remember the values that you were taught. Especially, when you involve religion.

The most important lesson I learned from Catholic school is to love your neighbor as yourself.

We are more similar than we are different. Especially in a melting pot like America. Become educated and aware before you target a group of people, who have not harmed you.

We can all learn a lot from the way Nathan Phillips handled the situation and we should all be alarmed about who was targetting him: the youth, the next generation.