Imagine a world of tolerance,
The skies are clearer and the birds chirp louder,
Around the corner stands a little boy in a dress,
Unafraid of any judgment he stands prouder.
His mother holds his hand with strength,
She knows she can provide,
Her check is as much as any mans,
The years of sexism she took in stride.
Across the street stands a couple,
The color of their skin is not the same,
But the love is real and the hearts beat loud,
So between these two souls there is no shame.
Down the road sits a mosque, in front of it stands a church,
Two religions that have been side by side since birth,
No longer is there animosity between them,
They both promote love on this vast and holy earth.
A young girl approaches the doors to school,
Not fully a citizen, nor on a vacation,
She speaks a different language,
New to this country and new to education.
Her parents came here to work and live
Their new neighbors offer a helping hand to acclimate,
Bridges are built so this family can feel safe,
And between the children a friendship is what they’ll create.
This world can exist for both you and me,
Effort and tolerance establishes a strong foundation,
We can build this life for a brighter future,
A better city, a nicer state, and an even greater Nation.
On a Wednesday afternoon in February, I sat down to digitally interview a man by the name of Brad Moser. He was kind enough to lend me a hand for an interesting class assignment. The assignment was to speak with someone different than yourself; for Brad and I that difference was religion. He is Mormon, while I grew up Methodist. The questions I asked him to answer were personal, but as I found out, he is an extremely open individual. Proud of his religion, and how it has shaped both him and his family, it has made the obstacles it brings worth it. This interview allowed me to connect my class work to his life. The main way I connected was through the misunderstandings of his religion. In class, we have discussed how many of the stereotypes and myths surrounding Judaism are false, or untrue, in today’s world. One stereotype that follows those in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is that they all have multiple wives. This is not true for this religion today. Brad believes these stereotypes still exist today due to people’s indifference and unwillingness to educate themselves. The inspiration for my poem comes from our discussion on creating a tolerant world. Brad believes that at some point we can become what he calls a “Zion society”; in order to get there, we must first educate. Brad works in education himself and this is why he stresses the important role that this plays in creating a tolerant world. The poem is my imaginative world of this tolerant society; where everyone is allowed to be themselves and are tolerant of all others and their differences.
Everyone’s goal in life is to be accepted whether it be because they’re from a different place and don’t look like everyone or because society has so many rules it’s hard to follow all of them. A tolerant world is something of our dreams that we can all hope for one day but it’s still a dream. As we look back in time, we can see how judging people based on how they look, talk, or act can be so discriminative and demeaning and does more harm than good. When we look back on Hitler in the holocaust, we can see that he clearly sought out people of a certain look; blonde hair and blue eyes. If someone had these than they were automatically judged and could possibly be killed just because of their looks. Hitler had such a judgement towards a certain type of people to the point he killed millions of them. Along with them being of a different look they also had a different religion. A huge problem back then and still today is a fight on religion. People are supposed to be allowed to freely practice their religion, but everyday people are judged or killed because of what they believe. No one should have to live their life in fear but so many people are afraid of going outside or going to their designated religion areas because they have no idea what is going to happen. A tolerant world is a dream but hopefully a dream that will happen very soon.