In order to heal prejudice, we must first define what prejudice is. Prejudice is an attitude directed toward people because they are members of a specific social group. Seeing as the prominence of prejudice, unfortunately, continues to significantly increase in today's society, it is our responsibility as citizens and members of society to help "heal" or reduce it as much as possible, in the most effective way we can.

Thus, to accomplish this, we must acquire an understanding of why prejudice is so prominent in present-day society. When considering this issue, it is valid to assert that its ever-increasing prominence is at least in part due to society's obsession with perfection and the general sense of hesitancy that surrounds interacting with anyone that deviates from the definition of "normal." This idea can be traced all the way back to the time of World War II and Hitler's goal to create a "perfect" Aryan race.

If we continue along society's timeline we can clearly see that this obsession with perfection and subsequent development of hesitancy becomes increasingly prominent as time goes on, especially with the development of social media.

To "heal" prejudice or at least reduce it as much as we can, we need to each individually make a conscious effort to do so. One way to do this is to travel to as many countries around the world as you can. By traveling the world this extensively, you are subliminally reducing any prejudice that you may personally hold by being exposed to other cultures and ethnicities.

Essentially, if you expose yourself to individuals and cultures that are different than what you are used to, you subconsciously acquire a better understanding of exactly who these individuals are and thus experience a reduction in prejudice toward them. To make even more of an effort to accomplish this objective, you may want to consider studying abroad. Taking advantage of an opportunity such as this will allow you to truly immerse yourself in the culture and traditions of the country you are studying in, thus decreasing any negative assumptions you may have previously held.

Another method that could be utilized to reduce or "heal" prejudice at the individual level is simply educating yourself. One can educate him or herself about prejudice and its ever-increasing prominence by reading up on it and researching. By doing this, one can reduce their own personal prejudice by obtaining knowledge about the facts and figures that are related to prejudice and its prominence in society.

Personally, I have made an effort to reduce any prejudice I have toward certain groups by deliberately interacting with those groups. I do this by making it a point to have genuine conversations with these people about their particular culture and traditions. I also make sure to enroll in classes and join on-campus clubs that I know will expose me to people of different cultures and ethnicities that are unfamiliar to me. Additionally, I continually strive to reduce my own prejudice by educating myself about the prevalence and magnitude of prejudice in today's society through reading news articles and books that deal with those kinds of issues.

In terms of how one can "heal" prejudice in their local neighborhood, city, or region, this can be accomplished by making said places more inclusive from the start so that prejudice is less likely to develop. One way to make these places more inclusive is to schedule community-wide activities that all community members can participate in, regardless of their differences/challenges. Examples of such activities might include holding a community-wide bake sale or garage sale. Even by simply offering these types of inclusive activities, the community is clearly showing that they value uniqueness and differences, and thus don't value prejudice.

Essentially, one can "heal" prejudice on a community level by promoting inclusivity and equality throughout the entire community. Communities fostering such values so openly make it very unlikely for prejudice to develop among community members.

When one begins to ponder how we can "heal" prejudice at the national level, it becomes very apparent that the primary individuals that can accomplish this objective are the ones that work in government. It can be valid to assert that the most effective way to heal prejudice in this magnitude is to institute legislation and programming issued by the government that deals with the reduction of prejudice.

Another way we can "heal" prejudice at the national level is to release more statements from government officials that clearly champion equality and that put forth the message that being different is okay. I believe that the government has very gradually begun to do this through the frequent advertisement of campaigns such as "pass it on" and others that promote the outward display of positive values and actions, but we've only just scratched the surface and could do so much more to reduce overall prejudice on the national level.

While I do certainly believe that we can "heal" prejudice on all of the different levels, I think at the end of the day it comes down to society's willingness to give up on its obsession with normalization and perfection. Once this becomes less important to society, individuals' "need" to feel prejudice towards certain groups, will significantly decrease.