Soap Box

I am placing a box of soap down and standing on it...figuratively that is. I have a soap box. It is a rather good one and quite justified if I do say so myself (which I do). It is about hate and violence. In my communication class we just watched "Do the Right Thing." This film is awesome and practically brought me to tears at the end (shocker). It takes place on a block in Brooklyn, NY in 1989. I'm going to spoil the ending for you because it directly relates to my soap box and is what activated this desire to shout out...."How do you treat another human like this?!?!? What part of this is okay?!" In the end of this film the black people end up burning Sal's Pizzeria, who is Italian. Sal defends these very people throughout the entire movie. And then they trash his store AND burn it down...all because he destroyed a boom box. Okay. I understand where you might be slightly confused. A kid has a boom box and refuses to turn down his music and goes into Sal's with a guy who has already been kicked out of the place for causing problems earlier that day. Kid number 2 wants pictures of black people on the wall and is pissed off because Sal only has Italians on the wall. Well it's SAL's restaurant. Sal IS ITALIAN. If the situation were reversed there would ONLY be black people on the wall, not other minorities. Anyways, these two kids came in and started disrespecting him and he in turn ended up destroying the boom box which caused a fight and the kid who owned the boom box tried strangling him. The cops came and it took 4 of them to hold the kid and one had the police stick to his throat and ended up strangling him.

So of course this is Sal's fault in their eyes which is completely idiotic. Sal didn't tell them to kill the kid. He simply wanted to run his business. Sal had been there for 25 years and had never done any harm to any of them. They grew up on his pizza. And how is he paid back? His very own employee starts the riot by throwing a trash can through the window (earlier in the scene he has told this same employee that he would always have a job there and was like a son to him). After they tear the place up they set it on fire. All of this is absurd!!!!!!!!!!!!

People are people. Case and point. Their ethnicity shouldn't matter. Their gender shouldn't matter. Their religion shouldn't matter. Their orientation shouldn't matter. IT SHOULDN'T MATTER. We are all people and we all just want to live our life. We all want love, respect, and understanding. I'm not saying you have to like everyone and be their best friend. Just respect them. Be courteous. Be decent. Be civil. Don't act like people are beneath you. People are so quick to judge others and hold so tightly to that judgement and never give someone a chance. It's happened to me several times. My job as a highschool/college student DOESN'T define who I am. It doesn't JUSTIFY people to treat me like dirt. Just because I might seem tough around the edges DOESNT mean I am a bad kid. The only thing these things mean is that I am working to pay for my bills/school and that I've been through a good amount. The entire point of this is that people need to stop being judgmental and hateful.

LOVE OTHERS AS I HAVE LOVED YOU- JESUS