Prejudice

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Not that I want to start a big angry thing here but... oh, well, nurses tend to be opinionated (wonder why?) so here goes. I just read a thread in the humor section where someone gave offense with a label for a particular racial group. It got me to thinking about prejudice, what it is, and do I have it. I do. I know that's not the politically correct answer and I'm not proud of it but I'm going to get it off my chest and hope that you all can forgive me.

I don't like cheerleaders. They make me feel inferior (hang-up from high school and yes, I will get counseling some day). I've always been short and chubby and... oh, I HATE this label, CUTE. Cheerleaders are tall(er than me), athletic, have flouncy skirts, big voices and boyfriends. There. I've admitted it. The ugly truth.

I know that none of us wants to admit that we hold any prejudices, but we do. Maybe there's a cheerleader out there who holds cute, short, chubby girls in contempt. Do I have a point? Well, yes. Its that prejudice doesn't necessarily have to do with skin color or religion. It may have to do with weight, intelligence, occupation, physical limitations... and the list goes on.

Why am I wasting your time with this? Take a few minutes to examine your own thoughts and feelings with honesty. By recognizing and working on our own shortcomings (not that I think any of you have any! ;-) ), we may be better able to understand where others are coming from and give us the sensitivity to help them change their beliefs and opinions positively.

Then again, maybe that's a bunch of hooey, I'm still way too idealistic, and life needs to beat me down some more. But I will try to change my opinions about cheerleaders. I must admit that as we all get older, gravity has helped even everything out!! (grin)

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Originally posted by TracyRN:

Not that I want to start a big angry thing here but... oh, well, nurses tend to be opinionated (wonder why?) so here goes. I just read a thread in the humor section where someone gave offense with a label for a particular racial group. It got me to thinking about prejudice, what it is, and do I have it. I do. I know that's not the politically correct answer and I'm not proud of it but I'm going to get it off my chest and hope that you all can forgive me.

I don't like cheerleaders. They make me feel inferior (hang-up from high school and yes, I will get counseling some day). I've always been short and chubby and... oh, I HATE this label, CUTE. Cheerleaders are tall(er than me), athletic, have flouncy skirts, big voices and boyfriends. There. I've admitted it. The ugly truth.

I know that none of us wants to admit that we hold any prejudices, but we do. Maybe there's a cheerleader out there who holds cute, short, chubby girls in contempt. Do I have a point? Well, yes. Its that prejudice doesn't necessarily have to do with skin color or religion. It may have to do with weight, intelligence, occupation, physical limitations... and the list goes on.

Why am I wasting your time with this? Take a few minutes to examine your own thoughts and feelings with honesty. By recognizing and working on our own shortcomings (not that I think any of you have any! ;-) ), we may be better able to understand where others are coming from and give us the sensitivity to help them change their beliefs and opinions positively.

Then again, maybe that's a bunch of hooey, I'm still way too idealistic, and life needs to beat me down some more. But I will try to change my opinions about cheerleaders. I must admit that as we all get older, gravity has helped even everything out!! (grin)

Bummer. I was tall, athletic and....a BATON TWIRLER!!!!!

At my school, you would have been a cheerleader.

Just depends where you are.

biggrin.gif

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