One thing many people are allowed to have in this world is an opinion. No person, religion, or government can take away your personal thoughts. They can, however, take away your right to speak your mind against situations that you feel are unjust. In many households all over the world, kids’ minds are marinated with ideas influenced by their parents or guardians. Because of this, many kids under the age of eighteen go into the world with a closed minded perspective of not only the rights of others, but their skin color as well.
Last November, my school had done its own presidential election to determine who would become president based on the students who voted. Throughout the week that the poll proceeded, we were taught about who every candidate was and what they stood for. Every person who voted in our school election was informed, uncensored, and anonymous. When the day of the results came in, I was astounded to hear Donald Trump’s name echo through the intercom. Although this had taken place before Trump’s inauguration, part of me was ashamed of the school I had attended, and the other part of me wondered how those results could be possible. I had gone to school under the assumption that I knew who my classmates were, that we had been the generation of change and the lightning bolt that the world needed in order to successfully coexist.
Growing up in Texas, it wasn’t a surprise that there had been many people from both sides of the political spectrum. The majority of Texans are family and religion oriented, which began to make me wonder if people’s family and/or religion played a role in their bigotry. According to a survey made by Gallup.com, “a fifth of U.S. teens (21%) say they are “more liberal” than their parents and 7% say “more conservative,” 7 in 10 teens (71%) say their social and political ideology is about the same as mom and dad’s.”
As I grew older, I had always been taught to that blood is thicker than water. Not that family shouldn’t be important, but not everyone will have the same opinions on specific matters and many families fail to realize this fact. While some kids are free spirited and exercise their right to free speech, there are some teens who simply feel that it is natural to follow their parents’ footsteps. Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it should be a message for vulnerable teens and young adults to produce their own thoughts and feelings about movements and issues across the world, instead of stealing someone else’s. If you are always following your parents ideas and morals, you will never truly be yourself in anything. Many kids’ decisions are made for them while they grow up; what religion to practice, who they can and cannot date, and how they spend their time. That leaves us with the question of whether or not kids to blame for conforming to their parents’ ideals. There is no excuse for racism, homophobia, or bigotry in our society. Many of those teens will eventually grow old and inevitably pass their values onto their own children, or they may change their views after finally leaving their parents’ nest. Because their perception of the world is still a haze, I advise people to not fight hate with hate. Do not add fuel to their fire. If anyone could be the one to help rid them of their ignorance, I encourage you to not count yourself out of informing more people about issues that are important to you. Remember that informing and coercing are two very different things, and to not rely heavily on the power of intimidation in order to get your point across. Blood is thicker than water, but that is not an excuse for one to let their family manipulate their views and opinions.
