Bigots All

I heard a sound bite about some dude who admitted publicly that he is a bigot. I don't know who he is and I'm not writing about him, except to say this: it takes courage to be that vulnerable. I wanted to high-five him because confession is good for the soul. Then the news story took a weird twist. I expected it to be about how we are all bigots in one way or another, but instead, the story was about all the criticism this guy received for being honest. So I just have to say, hold on, people, we are all bigots. You probably want to deny it but it's true. We all refuse to listen to opinions that differ from our own. That's what a bigot is: a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own. We use the words "bigot" or "bigotry" most often to refer to race but it goes beyond that. Anytime we belittle or even ignore someone who is different from ourselves in some away we are behaving like bigots. I know I make assumptions about people without really getting to know them. I judge them on appearances. It's not just skin color, it's the way they walk and how they dress. I automatically have more respect for someone who holds his head up when he walks instead of watching his feet. I also have low tolerance for comments made online that I deem as stupid, instead of trying to learn what leads the other to his or her concussions. And while I'm confessing, yes even skin color effects how I think of someone.

If we're honest, we'll admit we have a root of bigotry in our souls. And that is the first step in recovery, honest confession. We shouldn't shame people when they admit they have problems. That will discourage others from being honest about their problems. Do we want people to be in denial? No! You can't correct the problem if you can't admit it exists. That's why we have Black Lives Matter rallies: to expose the problem so we can work toward a solution. But we can't get there if we keeping shaming people for admitting they are bigots.

So here it goes: I'm a bigot.

Now that that's out, what can we do about it? We can start by learning to be tolerant. We need to listen and understand one another.