Savages

Do you remember watching Pocahontas as a kid?

(or an adult - I'm obviously the last person that would judge you for that)

Do you remember the part where everything has gone wrong? Kocoum has just been shot. Both sides are angry and bloodthirsty. 

Do you remember the song they sing as they prepare for battle?

Do you remember how ridiculous it sounds?

They're vermin.

They're savages.

They're only good when dead.

They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil.

The paleface is a demon.

I wonder if they even bleed.

Barely even human.

They're different from us, which means they can't be trusted.

Demons.

Devils.

They're just a bunch of filthy, stinky SAVAGES.

And while you're listening to it you think, "How can someone really think like that? (And let's keep in mind that it's BOTH sides that are acting this way!) How can they be so close minded? How can they be so blind..."

But then.... 

They're weird.

It's unnatural.

They're obviously a terrorist.

They're the spawn of Satan.

They're different.

To be completely honest, I'm not even comfortable putting up most of the words that would help make this point.

I like to think when watching Pocahontas that it's just a cute little Disney story (which, to some extent, it is). But then I have to wonder... how much of it is actually a mirror to even today's society?

We think we're so civilized. We think this is just something that happened in the past. 

I'm not saying the world is a terrible place. And I think tolerance for someone different than you is more prevalent today than it has been in the past. 

I'm also not saying that there aren't bad people out there. Or even people that do things that I personally don't agree with. 

I'm saying that being different is not a crime.

If you spend your whole life thinking that the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you - you're going to spend your life 1) very lonely and 2) very cynical/angry. 

Neither of which is fun.

Isn't it funny how once you get to really know someone, they really don't seem that different. 

Everyone laughs in the same language and everyone bleeds the same color.

But you do have to get through the differences first to find the similarities.

They're just...

Different.