Over the last couple of years, it has seemed as if society has softened. We can hardly speak of any controversial topic or issue without offending someone somehow, therefore, leading it to be unacceptable because of another opinion. Why is it that we all can't be more relaxed in life and views?
For example, last year during my senior year of high school we wanted to come up with a week of themes for the seniors on our last full week of high school. Most of our ideas, however, got turned down. Why? Because Hawaiian day would be rude to the Hawaiian natives, nerd day is offensive to the “nerds,” elderly people day is rude to the elders, gender bender day (boys dress as girls and girls dress as boys) was offensive to the transgenders, and tourist day was rude to foreigners. Now I may not be Hawaiian, elderly, transgender, or a foreigner here, but I still know how to have a light heart when it comes to humor.
If we put our world in the stereotypical high school movie form, some could consider me a “nerd” for being very into the AP/Honors courses and extracurricular and I also enjoyed going to school and learning. But did I get offended by that? No, I didn’t. Because I didn’t care what others thought of that and was completely content with what I was doing with my life. The social structures we define ourselves in are all made up and it is in our own decisions as to whether or not we want to be confined to these or not.
Spirit days, a positive connotation, are the days where we dress up as something other than ourselves and have a good time. These days are supposed to be fun and are not meant to attack others. Just because I think these spirit days should’ve been allowed, that doesn’t define me as someone who dislikes a certain group of people, it just makes me someone who knows what spirit days are really for. Spirit days are the days when everyone can put differences aside and have fun dressing up together as something other than themselves, which should be enlightened, not banished.
These issues come up in various parts of our society. For example, the WIAA (Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association) recently released rule changes for basketball games, stating that we are now not allowed to say the chants “Scoreboard” or “Air-ball” or anything that hinders the other team.
Why?
Do they think that the basketball players are really that into what the other team is saying more than the actual sport? Our society has started to care way too much of the acceptance from others rather than their own personal beliefs and how they feel. Someone who is gay or lesbian should never be put down for who they are, but at the same time, we cannot put other people down who don’t agree with LGBT just because we agree with it. In some cases, we really can’t change how someone views an issue just like how we can’t change a person on whom they are. We aren’t going to agree with everyone’s views on everything, but it’s still wise to keep an open mind and listen to others without putting them down because it doesn’t match up with yours. We need to learn to respect others opinions and not judge solely on their views on an issue without truly getting to know a person first and hear them out. We don't have to all agree as a whole, as long as we are accepting and respectable of everyone.
My main message from this is that we all need to be more accepting of others, whether or not they coincide with our views on the world or not. We all have our own unique touches and opinions which should all be valued equally. Our society should not be at war with each other while everyone constantly try to hold their opinion over someone else head thinking that’ll get them to change. This is not a dictatorship and everyone is going to have different views so rather than not allowing ourselves to be open to debate, we should expand our minds more and see the views in others.I know we all need to be respectable to another opinion, however, when we close our minds to people who don't think like us, we are not allowing ourselves to grow as people and make this society a united one. I believe that is to our greatest advantage if we learn to not only be secure in ourselves but also be able to open ourselves to others.
