I Have a Dream

Image by Victor Mirontschuk

I have a dream that there will one day be no more societal tension. That gun regulations will not cause more bullet wounds, that girls’ bodies will not be harped upon by the media as too skinny or too heavy or too ugly or too beautiful, that when referencing “color,” people will think of crayons used by their children at school instead of a division that continues to hurt our country, a division that fosters hate and seems to become stronger every day.

I have a dream that girls will not be encouraged to starve themselves so that the width of their two legs are smaller than the length of their newest iPhone 6, that they stop contouring their faces with shades of brown and white and tan in order to look like their favorite anorexic celebrities, that disrespecting one’s parents will not be a phase that every middle-schooler “goes through,” a phase that some never overcome because they grasp with clenched hands on to the idea that it makes them “cool.”

I have a dream that society stops condoning one-night stands brought through the ease of a downloadable app, that “swiping left” and giving girls a number one through ten that is supposed to determine their self worth stops becoming acceptable, that marriage is seen as more permanent than tramp-stamp henna tattoos gracing the backs of thirteen year-olds who are more concerned about appearing “sexy” than feeding their Nintendogs on their GameBoys.

I have a dream that old people wearing Home Depot aprons, struggling with finding the right aisle for a rude customer and pointing with their arthritis-riddled fingers are not taken for granted, going home lonely and feeling as if the world has determined them to be less important now that their hair has turned from dark brown to light grey.

I have a dream that rape does not exist, that girls and boys do not spend their existences living with the fact that society blames them for “asking for it,” that they wore revealing clothing that seemed to make what happened to them acceptable, that they deserve what happened to them.

I have a dream that pro-life and pro-choice and gay rights are more about the individuals they affect and less about the individual gains of those running for a political office.

I have a dream that college isn’t characterized by crippling debt and student loans that are geared towards feeding the government, with days spent by students whose backs bend into unnatural curves from the weight of their hundred dollar textbooks and eating ramen as sustenance because education has sucked their pockets and dreams dry.

I have a dream that religion has not become the newest four-letter word, never to be spoken about in public, seen as whims of people who are too weak to accept reality and evolution and the big bang theory. That freedom of religion really means people are free to pledge allegiance to one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I have a dream that we as a country will stop being skeptical of our fellow humans, no matter what clothing they wear, language they speak, background they have, or color of their skin.