A Child’s Innocent Dream

I remember the days of my childhood. Sunkissed skin, riding tricycles with the neighborhood kids, watching TV until it was time to go to bed. Sweet innocence. Blissful ignorance.

My parents raised me in a loving family, teaching me right from wrong, so I always assumed that everyone was taught the same. I mean I was only a child, who else was I to believe if not my parents? And so I always assumed that all people were good at heart and everyone was equal to one another. Because if we were all taught the same, then wouldn’t everyone be treated the same?

And with this mentality, I started school.

Being at school and with the people there made me realize that not all people were taught the same as me. That not all people thought the same way as I did. It was that moment when my innocent childhood fantasies were discarded with the weight of reality. Because people saw me differently for the shape of my eyes, the color of my skin, and the backgrounds of my parents.

As a child, I just went about my days blindly, not once acknowledging the things happening around me. But as I started to grow up I started noticing the glances, the whispers as I walked, the pointing. Have people always been like this?

Simply put, it's like this:

Have you ever looked at someone differently because of their appearance? Have you ever made an incorrect judgement about someone because of how they looked and dressed?

You probably have, right?

Now, I guess the real question here would be: Have you ever had the same thing done to you?

Have you ever gone to pay at a store and have the cashier look at you in disdain? Have you ever heard false rumors about you simply because you looked the way you did? Have you ever come back home to thoughts of the way people looked at you distastefully? Have you ever been categorized into a section because of the way you dressed, looked, or acted?

Not all of you would be able to say yes now, huh?

Why is that? Why are some people judged and others aren’t?

Is it because some people are better than others? Is it because a race is superior to another? Is it because the way we act doesn’t matter when it comes to the color of our skin?

How I wish that weren’t true.

If someone had stood up for me when I was a child would things have been different? Would I have been more confident with who I am? Even my parents brushed it off when I told them, telling me that that’s just the way the world is and that I had to accept it. How I wish I fought back, telling them that the world shouldn't have to be like this. Instead, I began to feel ashamed for the way I looked. It shouldn’t have come to that, especially for a child.

Because over the years, I did the best I could to fit in with others. I listened to the same music, I wore the same brand of clothing, I did everything they did. And yet, there was something about me that just made me different. Something that no amount of fitting in could ever change. Because I didn’t look the same as them. Even with all the stuff I piled on myself.

And that was all it took for me to be branded as different.

I want that innocent childhood back, where it was assumed that everyone was equal, that the way we looked didn’t matter. But, of course, that’s why they’re only a child’s innocent dream.

As you grow older, it becomes harder and harder to ignore the things said about you. And even worse than that, it becomes harder to keep those same judgements about others out of your head. Because this is the society we live in, where people are constantly judging others by appearances or status, but never by who they are as a person.

But what if that changed?

Because wouldn’t it be great if we could all laugh at the same joke without feeling like we don’t belong? Or be able to walk into a store without ever feeling out of place? Or be able to live in a world that respected everyone equally?

A world where a child’s innocent dream wasn’t just something for children. Where these childhood fantasies of everyone being equal were true. A world where future generations didn’t have to worry about the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes or the way they looked.

Wouldn’t that be great?

To live in a world where your children are treated the same as everyone else. Where you never had to worry about your children being mistreated or bullied or abused by others. A world where you could live differently from the one of your adolescent years.

It doesn’t have to be a child's innocent dream. We can make it happen together. If we all just changed our outlook on what our society thinks is "the perfect person" and stopped listening to the automatic judgements we make based on a person's appearance, then that would make all the difference. It all changes with the way people look at things. And it only takes one person to start that change.

Will you be that one person?

After all, as Mother Teresa put it, “I alone can’t change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” If we could just be that one stone to create the ripples, everyone would be equal together.

No longer would children have to wish they had someone to stand up for them. No longer would our fantasies of equality just remain fantasies. No longer would we have to be ashamed for the way we are.

All it takes is one person. One change of view.

Let’s change the way we look at things, going back to the days of our youth where everyone was equal. For ourselves, for the children of the future, for the world.

And if you can’t, then at the very least, hate everyone equally.