Hate... When Will It End?

Written By: Martin

One of the most disturbing things that even today still haunts me is the murder of Matthew Sheppard. That someone could hate a person, just because they are different, that much that they could do something so horrible. For the rest of my life I will never be able to get those images out of my head. I can't even look at a picture on a web site or read a story about what happened without shedding a tear. Not only a tear because a young man lost his life because of who he was, but also because even in this day and age, hatred still lives on.

We are not born knowing hate. We are taught hate. We are taught by our parents, our relatives, anyone we come in contact with. I am not only referring to hatred against gays, but anyone. It pains me when I hear a parent or any other adult around a young child using the words "faggot" or "nigger" or any other derogatory word. It hurts me even more when I hear a child repeat them.

I was away for the weekend with my family. My 10 year old cousin is there. He is playing a golf game on his Sony Playstation. He misses a shot and he starts yelling at the game calling it a "faggot." A little while later, he is fighting with his brother and says "why are you such a stupid faggot?" And his brother replies "shut up you homo."

That hurt bad. Not only because my family does not know about me, but because these young boys are already on their way to being prejudice. I later hear my cousin talking to his friend about this "nigger that lives on his street." I went over and said that I did not want to hear that out of his mouth again. That it was totally offensive and he needs to stop. He replies "Whatever you nigger-lover."

It amazed me that such a young child could have so much hate. I then hear my uncle, his father, talking about how "we have to sell the house because the f****ng spicks are moving in." And I wonder where my cousin learns this from?

My best friend, whom I have known for 14 years now, has 3 younger brothers. 10, 16 and 21. I have watched these kids grow from babies. Same scenario. My friends family is prejudice. Everyone is a "fag," a "spick," a "nigger," a "kike" and so on. They drummed into these kids heads for as long as I can remember that they were "to stick with their own kind." The youngest came home from school one day and says to my friend, "I really like this girl from my school. We were playing in the playground and she kissed me." "Oh really," my friend says. His brother then tells him that the girl is black. My friend calls his family and starts telling them all that his brother is a "nigger lover." His grandfather tells him, "Don't you bring no darkies to my house! You better dump that nigger now!"

His little brother, always calls me his big brother, asks me what the big deal was. He said, "she's a person just like me, what is the big deal?" I tried to explain to him why they were like this and I just couldn't. I told him that I could not explain why people are like that. Why people hate someone because of their sexual preference or skin color or religion or for whatever reason. I just told him that he should accept people for what they are and do not listen to what his family tells him. I said that hate is wrong and regardless of what people say to him, he knows that is it wrong and to not accept it.

My own family has always made prejudice. statements in front of me. Allot of comments about gays. I can vividly remember my mother making a statement in front of me that "gays should burn in hell" when the big stink was going on about Ellen Degeneres telling everyone that she is gay. I looked at my mother, who has no idea that I am gay, and said "they are people just like you and I." Her reply, "they are not like you and I. I am not committing a mortal sin!"

We will never rid the world of hate. I know this. Because as long as there are people teaching this to the children, hatred will live on until the day we die. I know that I will never see that day when everyone is accepted for who they are, regardless of their religion, their race, their sexual preference or whatever. I just hope that one day, a child somewhere can go their entire life without ever hearing the hate and ignorance that the children of today are going to grow up and teach.