Are You a Big Fat Jerk? #Opinion #Amwriting

Yesterday the world marked International Holocaust Memorial Day. Posts on social media reminded us to never forget and not let these atrocities happen again, and yet as we move into 2018 I’m filled with a sense of unease.
Now more than ever hate is on the rise. It seems that if you aren’t white, Christian, and straight then you’re out of luck.
As a society we label people. We decide who they are by the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their religion and their politics. This is done to alienate people so instead of seeing them as humans we are forced to think of them as a group. 
These divisions are more rampant today than they have been in the last seventy years. This is insane when you consider we live in a world where, through the magic of the Internet, we can see, hear and examine the daily existence of our fellow man. Now we can understand what it is to walk in someone else’s shoes and feel what they feel.
 
As Tennessee Williams said,
“I think that hate is a thing, a feeling, that can only exist where there is no understanding.”
 
Which to me means if you hate someone because they’re gay, or from another culture, maybe you should get to know them. You might be surprised at how nice they are.
 
If we really must choose labels for human beings then I suggest we choose ones that are significant. Forget about the color of someone’s skin, their culture or sexual orientation. These are the labels that really count.
 

• Is not a jerk  
• Is sometimes a jerk
• Is always a big fat jerk 

 
Which one are you?   

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All photos in this post are courtesy of Pixabay