American Dream... or Nightmare

So yeah... I'm kinda procrastinating on writing a research paper on Romeo and Juliet. I swear those two were so freaking dumb but its still a kind of cool story... had it not happened in a week -long time span:p

Anyway, so I was just on my way to 6th period when my friend stops me and says to stay away from his friend. Of course, I've never talked to the guy so I ask why. Apparently he hates me because me and said friend had been getting into a lot of arguments. Which I find comical only because now both of our best friends despise the other. (My other friend can't stand him). So yeah, let's all start a hate the friends club.

Another thing is the whole gay marriage/ if gay is a choice somebody makes. My personal opinion is that you are born gay but even if you aren't... who really cares? Not hurting anybody. I just find it funny that everyone can fight over gay rights and animal rights and a bunch of other shit when there's a freaking war/s going on in the middle east. Can people not see what the real problem is or are we as a human race so interested in fighting that its all we can do?

My friend is religious and won't even LISTEN to other viewpoints sometimes. I believe there is a god but not in organized religion. Other people are agnostic, or atheist, or pagan, or a million other religions. Are one of us better than the other?

Humans fight about the most pointless of things. Who cares if when you go to bed at night who you party to or if you pray at all? Or if you celebrate holidays like Christmas or you celebrate nothing? I'm not going to lie. I love to debate the big issues and am strongly opinionated but when there are more important things, an entire country should not be consumed by hate and prejudice.

What is the American dream? A dream of happiness and hope. Something many people held dear when the immigrated to America hundreds of years ago and a coupe of weeks ago. Opportunity. Tolerance. FREEDOM. But no, when they arrive in America, they are met with intolerance, prejudice, and freedom only in selective areas. We can say what we want... until we're in school and we get suspended. Or we protest outside a building and are threatened.

America is plagued by gangs and many other things. Gangs were originally created to keep people safe from others. What about now? To see who can kill the most people or eliminate another gang?I'm not niave enough to say why can't we all just get along, but am I so niave to think not every little thing needs violence to be solved.
I recently read a piece called Cowboys and Mounties for my AP Lit class. The Candians had a 'boring' revolution filled with talking it out and no wars. Boring yes, but also effective and smarter. Can people really think killing others for no reason is right? Unfortunately yes, they can.
People are constantly throwing around the word racist and emo and goth and prep and so many others. Aren't they all the same thing now? Each word is used so much we are desensitized to it. One kid in my math class for no reason just said he hates 99% of white people. I know others who say they hate 99% of black people, or hispanic, or asian. What makes us all so different? All of us are Americans first. We are not European-American, or African-American, or Hispanic-Americans or Asian-Americans. Well, we shouldn't be; but we are. Each of us judge every other person first based on outward appearance, whether that is skin color or style.

Murder is shown to us so many times in the media, no one really seems to care. We thrive on the gruesome images in horror movies, without ever caring that once, this actually happened. Who cares? It didn't happen to us. Instead we watch, laughing or complimenting a killer's genius. Victims are not remembered. Only the murderer is.

I am simply using this as an example. The day after elections, everyone asked everyone who they voted for. The majority of people who said they supported McCain were called racist. Why has no one ever been called racist before when choosing between a candidate? Because they have always been white. Why does color even matter?
The first black president is amazingly historic, a sign that our country might finally get over a prejudice that has lasted since the country's creation. This is a great accomplishment yes, but why is that the only thing anyone seemed to be focused on? It seemed like in this election few people, at least that I knew, focused on the issues and voted either for or against a black man and with Hilary many were voting for a woman.