Column: This Side of The Fence; Golden Rule could be the antidote for discrimination
A young man made an inquiry of an old minister about the teachings of his church. The man, hoping to spark a deep and enlightening discussion with the minister, coolly asked, “What is your position on sin?” The old minister looked surprised and sharply replied, “Well, we’re against it of course!”
Discrimination appears to have some of the same problems. In the search for an equation to abolish it, the only guidance given is the confirmation that it’s bad.
It has taken years and the lives of many to establish the fact that discrimination even exists in America. In the America’s infancy, all men were supposed to be free and have certain guaranteed rights, given them by God. The problem was the definition of “man” in those days was incredibly narrow – excluding women, children and anyone who wasn’t white.
Then the creation of child labor laws, women’s suffrage and the Civil Rights movement came about, each exposing America’s discriminatory tendencies for what they really were: BAD. Great, now we know. But what do we do about it?
Here we are, years later, and we still haven’t figured out what to do about discrimination.
Of course we’ve tried. There are now laws, rules and statutes explaining and dictating how many people of color you should have in jobs and schools compared to the number of white individuals. It’s first come, first serve on buses and planes. Everyone goes to school together. We have affirmative action. Did we fix it?
The College Republicans don’t seem to think so. As part of Diversity Week, they are offering a $100 scholarship and anyone is eligible – unless you’re white.
Apparently, equality by the numbers is not as equal as we all thought.
So what’s the real solution to discrimination? It’s something not easily written into law, a divine principle instilled in us just like those God-given rights this country is founded on; something that cannot be taken away, but is given as freely as possible by choice of the holders. It’s called kindness.
The Golden Rule would probably be a lot easier to employ if the world were simply made up of people and not Americans, Africans, Japanese, Europeans and such. It would be easier to follow if everyone was just as pretty, just as smart and just as strong and everyone else.
But what fun would that be? If we’re looking for the easy way out, then perhaps cloning is the best solution to abolishing discrimination.
On the other hand, if what we’re really looking for is some common ground, a place where the world is suddenly composed of just people, not women and men, not black and white, but people, then perhaps the Golden Rule can serve as a jumping off point.
Of course, you have to remember the rules get bent sometimes. They even get broken on occasion. They have to be expanded, redefined and adjusted. They may not always be followed and people can mess them up. But we can always try again, standing firm on our common ground and hopefully go a step beyond “I’m against discrimination” to “I’m going to do my part to try and fix it.”
Mikaylie Kartchner is a senior majoring in print journalism. Comments and questions can be sent to mikayliek@cc.usu.edu.