Have you ever felt like you were less significant than the people around you? I have. Back in sixth and seventh grade, I was living in Ohio, which is a lot different than living in Washington, and I was a skater. My hair was long, my shirts were all ripped, my jeans were tight and I got made fun of constantly. There was even this kid that was just like me just without the long hair and he called me names.

One day he was trying to tell me I was bad at skating. Then he threw a hard green nut that had fallen off a tree at me and hit me in the head. I wasn’t very smart and I reacted quickly and I got into the only fight I’ve ever been in. Humans have always been quick to jump to a fight even in the most unnecessary situations. We are animals with instincts so it’s understandable but people need to learn to be nicer and not jump to violence. People these days are constantly trying to be better than others and act like they’re the coolest and “hardest” around.

We as humans have the same potential to go to the same places in life, we all have the potential to succeed and go and become the president or a doctor or an athlete. We all have the potential to fail and become the bum that everybody sees begging for change on the corner of the road. We all can be the best we possibly can, and that should prove we are equal but we, being the humans we are, have the individuality to make the choices we do and to do things differently than others. Just because they are different doesn’t make one of you better than the other. Some people can handle others being rude and hateful but some people really take it seriously and they get down and depressed and then the sad thing is that the majority of people today have depression.

If you were to show your protected hate speech to the wrong person it can have devastating effects on that person and could potentially have traumatic effects on the family of who you are being hateful toward.

Everybody had the parent or teacher that told you: “Treat others in the same manner you want to be treated.” This is so true. Why be rude and hateful only to complain about it when people are that way to you? Think of yourself as the person you are going to say rude things to. If you don’t want those things being said to you then don’t say anything to them at all. Promote world peace.

Trevor Vickers, Bothell