by Ashley McGee |

Walking through the hallways of the school, on a daily basis, I see people whose names I don’t know, who I’ve never so much as talked to and whose story I’ll probably never get the chance to really understand. And, yet, I thought I knew them. She was always smiling, so her life must be easy. He was in a fight, so he must not have any self-control. They were all friends, so they must have the same attitude.
I was wrong. There’s no way to know a person without talking to them. There’s no way to understand a situation without experiencing it. And there’s no way to generalize a group when every group is made up of individuals with different ideas, beliefs and values. My thoughts were never malicious, targeted at a specific group or, most importantly, acted upon. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
According to the National Education Association, it’s estimated that approximately 160,000 children miss school every day because of bullying. Even worse, FBI statistics show 6,604 hate crimes happened in 2009 alone. Discrimination, it seems, is so deeply embedded in our society. It’s everywhere we look. The idea of bringing an end to it is daunting.
But I spent two days at William Jewell, surrounded by 45 people of differing genders, races, religions and sexual orientations and there we shared our personal stories, innermost thoughts and some of the most meaningful moments I’ve ever had. Chances are, most of us never would have met otherwise, but in this room, we set our differences aside and opened up to one another without fear of judgment or ridicule or rejection. And if we could come together, even if only for a matter of days, I still hope that one day the rest of the world can, too.