"All (people) are created equal"
-A story of how a mind was changed-
To Mrs. McDougall and my father.
Who taught me everyone can change and there is always something else to learn.
Thank you so much.
There once was a girl, who was like a caterpillar, as she had not yet though much on her own. She believed all people were created equal. She thought this because all people are made the same way, and the same mean equal. All people are also created in the image in God, the same basic shape. No one is made to be better or worse than another.
But during her grade nine English that all changed.
She read about a boy named Andy. He grew up in ‘the projects’, the poor parts of New York City. Since he lived here, he was taught gangs were cool and joined one. He was stabbed and no one helped him and the police didn’t care, all because of his membership in the Royal gang.
(based on short story ‘ On the Sidewalk Bleeding’)
She thought about when her uncle committed suicide. This left her cousins in a single parent home and her family in tense arguments about what actually happened. People in her own family can’t even be near other family members. Some didn’t attend the free Israel trip her family went on, just because of whom else was coming. How is this equal?
Families are suppose to love each other, hers doesn’t. If we were created equal no one would have things like this happen to them. Equal also means fair, and what happened to the girl’s family is anything but fair.
Charlie kept a progress report and the girl read it. Charlie had a mental problem and had an untested surgery done on him. For the most part he was very unequal to others. But, during his I.Q. climb he was at one point equal and then over equal, compared to others. At the end Charlie and Algernon (the lab mouse) were killed due to the effects of the untested surgery. What happened to Charlie was not fair.
(Based on ‘Flowers for Algernon’)
She watched others around her struggle due to illness, race, and identity.
Every three seconds a child dies of hunger related causes. Yet, when the girl is hungry, she can eat whatever she desires.
Her own sister nearly died of her newly diagnosed diabetes. A schoolmate died of leukemia. Yet, the girl is still alive.
She read a story about living in Maycomb. The story was based in the 1930’s, which is when the Great Depression happened. During this time in history on one was equal to those living now. It was very tough living and they had to go without many things we use daily. Also Tom Robinson was killed because he was black. Black children didn’t attend public schools. Mrs. Caroline, Scout’s teacher treated certain children rudely and insensitive. Boo Radley was too afraid to leave his home. Everyone was judged and no one was treated equally.
(based on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’)
In Haiti a devastating 7.0 earthquake with many aftershocks hit. Thousands died and thousands were hurt. They have little medical care. If we were equal the earthquake would have been worldwide. The earthquake wasn’t and she was not hurt or killed.
As she attended class, she realized that people are not created equal.
Even the girl wasn’t. Her genetics gave her Apraxia of Speech and Juvenile Fibromyalgia. Everyone else can speak no problem and doesn’t have constant pain, all the time, every single day.
The girl lived to figure skate; while others don’t even have homes, let alone money for fun.
Now this girl looks and sees nothing for anyone is ever equal. The planet Earth is a dystopia and the human race will simply not accept people for who they are. The girl has morphed into a beautiful and independent butterfly because of all she has learned about the world around her. She now desires to open her wings and change the world into a butterfly world, where all are equal.
This girl is me.
