This I Believe Essay
One scene that I could vaguely recall from my youth was getting into a fight with a little kid and his bigger brother at a playground. This past year I brought up this fuzzy memory to my father who remembered the situation more vividly than I did. He laughed and told me that as a kid I was illiberal at times and he distinctly recalled me saying that I picked a fight with those kids out of nowhere and was angry at them because they had freckles. I in return laughed while at the same time denied my dad’s recollection of the situation. In the back of my head I knew that he was right though. I knew that he wouldn't make up something like that. Being a more mature and serene person than I was in the past, I thought to myself, “why would I get mad at a person for having freckles?”, and “was that really why I was angry that day?” Today I undoubtedly know that it’s not right to judge others at all especially before getting to know them.
I believe that a person should never judge, classify, or make generalizations about another person or group of people, especially if they have never spent time with them or got to really know them. I feel like you can’t judge others because you will never really know what another person went through and has experienced from their perspective. When I say this I am not trying to defend anyone who has ever done something unjust or punishable, but I’m just saying that as individuals we should never be too quick to make rash decisions about people on their entire identity and integrity. One place where people are quick to judge and insult other people they don’t really know is the internet. I feel like in today’s world where there are so many forms of information transference many people really don’t get to meet each other before they pass judgment on each other. For example people these days people can technically have “friends” around the entire world that they have never seen except for in pictures and spoken to only in text. I think that this is all well and good but it could be totally different than really going outside and meeting them in person for better or for worse. In general, I feel like this ease of information transmission is hurting humanity because it encourages the pre-judgment and classification of others. I feel like the internet and this information era is also causing the human race to regress in aspects such as communication, and dexterity.
I would be a complete hypocrite if I were to say that the internet is the enemy and that you completely avoid Facebook and Yahoo, and I am not stating this. I am just saying that we should acknowledge that the internet isn't the most solid mode of communication and that we shouldn't be quick to pass judgment on others. I believe that genuinely meeting and getting to know new friends in person is a better choice than meeting behind a computer screen, and I think that others would agree if they just tried it more often. This I believe.
