Making a Difference by:Ashley House

    

          When I look around the Lake Hamilton High School, I can see quite a few lonesome people and that some people are not treated equal, but the other day I saw a popular cheerleader talking to someone who didn’t really have friends. She was really listening too. Not only that, she also showed that she was really interested in what they were talking about. I thought that all of the Lake Hamilton students really have a lot to learn from her. Although she is popular and they were not, she still stopped what she was doing and listened and talked to them. She didn’t just walk away and ignore them and she didn’t laugh and say mean things either.  She was very kind and considerate. People like her are the kind of people we need a lot more of at LHHS.

          However, I am very surprised that in a school like Lake Hamilton High School, that people are still being teased about their differences. I know my friend is teased a lot about her religion. We are both the same but we don’t go by the same religion. We always wear skirts and we don’t ever cut our hair, but she’s Pentecostal and I’m not.  I haven’t been teased, but people do ask about my religion sometimes, and that’s okay. It doesn’t bother me at all, but you shouldn’t tease and make fun of someone because they are different and especially about religion. The people around here should be much better than that. We were raised in these religious ways and we will always follow our beliefs. You should be able to respect that, because that’s all we are asking for. It’s not that hard to respect someone and their different beliefs or at least to try. I wouldn’t judge anybody about anything about them ever, so why would you judge our ways of following our religions? You shouldn't be like that.  

            When I look around Lake Hamilton High School, I know I’m different and I do a lot of times feel that I don’t belong here or anywhere at all, but nobody should feel like that. Everyone at Lake Hamilton should at least try to make others feel welcome here no matter what the differences are.  What people don’t stop and take the time to realize is that, when you tease someone, it really hurts them. They may not show it, but they are affected by it. By the time you say “You know I was just kidding”, they are already scarred from it. Whether it’s about their looks or religious backgrounds or anything at all, it is still painful. Don’t be so judgmental to others. Treat them the way you would like to be treated and if you don’t have anything nice to say then just don’t say anything. Being afraid of how they would be treated is why people around LH are so afraid to try to make friends.

             Even when nobody else does, you can still stand out. Accept them, because they are no different from you or anybody else. It doesn’t matter what they do or don’t have or how popular they may or may not be. It matters by who is inside of them. Nobody should ever have to feel the way they feel right now. A lot of times we don’t stop to think about how lucky we really are. We should be very thankful for our friends that really care about us. They may not have friends like you do, but you could stand up for them and show them what it’s like to have a friend like you. Show how much you care. That’s a big enough difference for everyone.