As a person who has always been an advocate for what I consider basic human rights, I have gotten a huge blue stamp from my conservative counterparts that reads "Liberal Democrat Trash." I openly joke about this, but I truly believe in the rights of all people regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation/identity, and I do consider myself quite liberal. Obviously, I've always seen those on the other end of the spectrum as mildly insane, and I accepted long ago that those people are probably carbon copies of their white Republican parents in suburbia. However, a new thought occurred to me recently that opened my eyes to the way one's environment affects one's perception of the world.

I grew up in the Metro Atlanta area in a predominantly African American community where 63.1 percent of everyone in my town was black, and 13.1 percent were Hispanic. As a part of the 22.2 percent white population, I was heavily submerged in a minority-based community, and it never even occurred to me that there were real people coming from towns that were monochromatic. Additionally, I also went to a school that had a thriving performing arts program, and (without being stereotypical) there were more gay people in my musical theater class than straight people. This kind of dynamic was always normal for me, and I never really felt out of place when I went to my super progressive Liberal Arts School.

Oglethorpe University, a small private college that is ranked among the most diverse student bodies in the country, is my home, yet I am surrounded by people who are just now learning about different cultures and sexualities. The idea that a lot of my peers are just now able to express themselves frightens me because I was never oppressed in that way. I have always had that right, but some of my peers were growing up in towns that would come knocking down your door with burning crosses in hand if you were openly gay. Okay, that may be a bit of a stretch, but you get my point. In so many Southern towns it is still normal to be indoctrinated with what I personally believe is a closed-minded system of beliefs. This got me thinking about something even scarier- am I brainwashed by my own upbringing?

Who would I be if I had been raised just a hundred miles north of where I'm from? Would I be a Trump supporter too? While I am pretty sure of my own beliefs, I also realized some other inconsistencies with my own thoughts and the ideas of my friends. For example, even among my straight white friends back home many were from "unconventional" families. Countless numbers of my friends were the product of divorce, and this kind of disruption in the family dynamic created a whole legion of kids in my town who were incredibly anti-marriage and anti-children. Everything they associated with the conventional family unit made it seem ridiculous to compromise their independence for a binding contract that, statistically, would fail. Being influenced by these people led me to believe that I would never want such an archaic tradition to "ruin" my life and career. However, with some insight I've learned that I actually get along with children very well, and I would consider settling down for a while with the right person. Isn't it crazy how much your friends affect your entire school of thought? Being relocated to a different location helped me realize this shift in my thinking, and even though I was under the impression that I was being liberated from my upbringing, I still could not escape the influence of others in my belief system.

I am still a feminist. I am still Pro-Choice. I am still going to the gay pride parade. I am still upholding the rights of all races and backgrounds. Now, I am just going to be more skeptical about what exactly I believe, and I will never be afraid of things that were once considered right-wing institutions. Regardless of one's environment, self-evaluation is necessary to find things that are truly meaningful to a person, liberal or conservative. There is a middle ground, and it is up to me as an individual to find it.