Shannon Lindow - Cordova

Essay Topic:  In schools, in the workplace, on television, even in our Congress, we see people intimidating, harassing, bullying, and victimizing others. How can you or how would you help to create a culture of tolerance where people cooperate, are respectful and kind to one another, and defend those who are being victimized or discriminated against?

It starts with one person. One person is all it takes to make someone smile, to make a few people laugh, to stand up for what’s right. One person and the rest will follow. Right? I wish it was that simple, but truthfully it is whole lot harder than that.

People would like to believe that one person can start a chain reaction of peace and tolerance that will spread until the reach is global. They would like to think that all it takes is a few Mother Theresa type humanitarians to help out and spread the love. Who are we kidding? This is the 21st century, be real. It’s time for a reality check on the world. It’s time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Rarely do we take the time to step outside of our lives and think about the world as a whole, the human race as a race and not just one person or a group of people.

There is violence and hate flowing in all directions from every possible source. There are innocent children starving everyday, there are people being cut and shot and raped and verbally abused in everyway every minute of every single day. Racial slurs have become common vernacular in schools and on the streets. Hearing about shootings and suicides has become normal. In America we have learned to look past these things. We keep to ourselves in our own safe little bubbles, not thinking that it could be us being hurt.

So what can we do? How can we save our world from this downward spiral of violence and destruction of our environment? How can we stop the children from starving and the people from killing, degrading and abusing each other? Maybe it can start with one. Maybe one person can start a chain reaction. Maybe it is just that easy and that simple.

It may take time and it will be hard, but it is possible. The first thing that needs to happen is the world needs to become a more unified force and not so separated by geography. This has begun to happen more with the ease of communication and travel brought about by new technology. The United Nations tries to unify the world powers, yet we still have a plethora of problems and intolerance seeping into our everyday lives. We can all agree that change needs to come about quickly and we can agree that what we are doing currently is not nearly enough to save us.

There is nothing monumental and huge that can ever create this ideal world that this essay aims to find. It has to start with one person, it has to start to spread. And it will reach farther and farther until eventually, someday, this world can be a reality. So who will it be? Who will be the one to start the change? One person and the rest will follow. Is it really that simple? The only way to find out is to try.