You Are The Difference Gray, white, bright colors, dull colors, and red, lots of red.

The red flows up and down the streets, and with it, follow emotions; terror, fear, anger. There are sounds of pain, grief, suffering, and pure fury. What was their crime? Living in the one place that people thousands of miles away decided they wanted to decimate. Those horrible men didnt know a single person here, but maybe that is what made it so easy for them to kill as many as possible. In the name of what? Apparently, everything they believe in. Now, lets go to another place. Here, there is only a little red, no more than a small spill dripping down. But there is a lot of noise. Doors slamming, screaming, crying, sirens in the distance but loudest of all is the silence of the voice that can never speak again. The case of this voice will go into a police station and quickly be filed as another suicide. No one will look deep into the dead eyes to see that really it was murder. No one will see that this was actually the death sentence. This young boy committed a crime, he was gay. So those around him decided that he had committed the crime of being different, thinking differently. So they tortured him, to the point where he gave himself the death sentence for this crime. So the question is why did those around him punish him? Because the young boy went against everything those people believed in.

There are countless cases of this in history, the Salem Witch trials, the genocide during World War II, and terrorist attacks in recent history. Today, you can turn on the news and sadly I am sure you will find that at least one case of suicide due to bullying is being investigated. Dont be mistaken, this is no new issue. This is one issue that we have in common with our oldest ancestors, something that has been around since before the time of the Romans. Any guesses? Our collective problem, not as Americans, but as humans is the belief that we are only one person. We have all learned history since we started school, we learn about famous people that made a difference like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Gandhi. When these great people began, they were only one person with an idea but they changed the world around them. You, each and every person in the world, holds the same power. Dont mistake this for some cheesy inspirational quote, this is the truth. If you dont take any responsibility on yourself, then you dont have the right to shed tears when the next great terrorist attack occurs or cry at the funeral of friends who committed suicide. Every person has a voice and you are not asked, but rather expected to speak up when there is wrong. In order to speak up, you must also be able to jump through a hoop, an obstacle that each of us faces, ignorance, the number one cause of hate. My goal today, is not to change the world or how any individuals think, all I ask is that for the next few minutes of your life, keep your ears and mind open. I

am no scientist or professor, I have no degree, but I am an American and a citizen of this world. I ask you to listen to me not because I have all the answers but because I have a lot of important questions. Today, the most well known terrorist organization is the al-Qaida. After the 9-11 attacks, it seems as though their name is impossible to forget. Even today, Anti-terror experts see the al-Qaida influence extending even as the core of the organization is thought to be down to an estimated 100 or fewer followers .i How does an organization of only 100 people continue to grow its influence? How do any of these terrorist groups continue to grow? Believe it or not, we are the cause of the spread of terrorism. When a few innocent people try to build a mosque in New York City, it creates uproar. In 2010, a poll showed that 63% of New Yorkers opposed the Park 51 mosque and only 27% supported it.ii Nine years after the 9-11 attacks, people still arent able to differentiate between a religion and a group of extremists. Innocents are being denied rights only because of their religion. The ignorance in society is exactly what continues this cycle of hate. The majority of society decided that all Muslims were to blame for the terrorist activity. Today we know better, but we are still hindered, by our stubbornness, which stops us from thinking about more than ourselves. What we believe in, what we want, what we stand for, isnt always right and this is a fact that must be accepted. We must stop being ignorant of the fact that we

can be wrong. There are thousands of different cultures and types of people in the world, what is accepted in our country may not be accepted elsewhere. We dont realize that when we make international news regarding controversial things such as abortion or homosexuality, there are people who believe that we are being evil. When these subjects create such tension in our own country, we cant possibly expect other people around the world to understand these things. As an American, I know that when I hear that there are countries where men have multiple wives, I feel sickened. When I hear that newborn baby girls are drowned right out of the womb just because they are girls, I want to scream and shout and punish those people. If you agree even a little with my emotions, put yourself in the shoes of someone who hears that we allow mothers to kill their own children, they dont see it as saving the mother but as murdering the child. In a world with so many beliefs and cultures, we have to learn to respect the fact that there are different beliefs. Rather than mock or insult others based on their beliefs, try to understand them and coexist. Once you can accomplish that, you will be able to change those peoples opinions but not before that. I have spoken a lot about the world, but now lets look at our own nation. We Americans consider ourselves very knowledgeable and one of the most free nations. I ask you today, how much do you know about your country? The majority of you know that we are in trillions of dollars in debt, do know you know

who we owe that money to? Does anyone know what our relations were with Osama Bin Laden and Al-Queda before 9-11? I am also an American and even I admit to not knowing about the many secrets of this nation. Corruption is a problem everywhere in the world but even that is linked to ignorance and hatred. Corruption can only occur in a free country where there is ignorance. If the people dont know what the government is doing how can it possibly be stopped? Once again, we are only looking out for ourselves, but wait; there is nothing wrong with that. After all, at the end of the day, my life and those connected to my life are what matter to me. What we dont realize is that by being so involved in our small problems like the price of gas or social security, we are not able to see when life-changing decisions are made without us even knowing. [A] major reason for anti-Americanism: the accreted residue of many years of U.S. foreign policies. These policies are unknown to most Americans. They form only minor footnotes in U.S. history. But they are the chapter titles of the histories of other countries, where they have had enormous consequences. 1 Basically, those we elected to power have done a lot that we just dont know about. Half of this is the governments job for making it hard to find but the other half is our fault because it is not like we are demanding to know. There are few who try to get information but the voice of the few is often drowned out by money or power. When many people

gather, and when each person raises their voice, no amount of money or power can drown out that noise. To make the world a better place, a safer place, and a kinder place, every human should ask its government for information and answers. All it takes is a spark to light a fire, all it takes is one person, then two, and soon you will have an army. Now we can take this one more step down, lets talk about our communities, the city, town, neighborhood, and especially school that you go to. I dont believe in watering down the truth, so bluntly speaking, schools have become less educational institutions and more torture factories. Yes, I am talking about bullying, I have sat through many presentations and workshops about bullying and the important of anti-bullying, but you know what? I dont think any have really ever made a difference on those who bully. Just like terrorists dont strike without being incited, neither do bullies. A bully usually is someone who hurts others to feel a little better about themselves. Other times, the bullies are just afraid of things that are different and so they try to scare away those who are different. Interestingly, terrorists usually work the same way. Sometimes, they strike so they can get revenge for what they went through and other times, they just dont like those who are different than them and so they want to scare those people. Terrorists are really just large scale bullies or bullies are just small-scale terrorists.

When terrorists and bullies are so similar, the way to fight both these things must be similar. Once again, people must look past their own personal good and think a little bigger. If you can save a boy from going home and hanging himself, or stop the school slut from having to go home and cut herself, then why wouldnt you? Yes, it takes courage, ya its hard, but who ever said life was easy? When you go to that boys funeral or go see the girl at the hospital, wont you feel guilt? A life was lost, a life was destroyed and why? Because you didnt want to look uncool in front of the bullies? Because you are afraid of getting bullied yourself? These are probably questions you have heard before in your life because I have heard them all in my life. What I want to know is why doesnt it matter to people? Why dont so many kids care when a 3rd grader is getting made fun of because his family cant afford Jordans? Why dont you care that some kids are afraid to come to school, to leave their own house? How can you not care? I said before that if you dont speak up, you dont have the right to cry or feel bad. Now I say that if you dont speak up that blood is on your hands and that guilt on our shoulders. Next time a bombing occurs and hundreds of people are killed, I am sure that is when you will get riled up about fighting terrorism but I want you to remember that those people didnt have to die in the first place. If you just try to ask more questions and be less ignorant. If we know what is going on in our country and understand how other people live, then maybe we can step closer

to a new world. A world where no kid is afraid to leave their house and a place where airport security doesnt have to take hours. I dont believe that world peace is possible but I do believe that there doesnt have to be so much blood spilled in the name of our beliefs. We dont have to hate one another because we cant agree on issues. Disagreements will happen but there is no need for a disagreement to lead to fires, arms and legs cut and torn from the body, there is no need for blood to be spilled or for organs to fall out. There is no need for violence and no need for the threat of violence terror. This is something you can stop, each and every one of you, that is not a choice or an option, I am telling you that you can stop this, whether you want to stop murder or assist it, that is your choice.