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Dangerous Preconceptions

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Contributed by: Kathryn Webb on 5/15/2006

I am a cheerleader at Green Mountain High School. What preconceptions just flashed through your mind?

The moment I tell people that I am a cheerleader I instantaneously become the classic "dumb blonde."

My grades beg to differ. In my junior year of high school, I decided to try a sport; yes it is a sport, in which the dancing and routines had always tempted me: cheerleading. Unfortunately, I picked the year that four squad members decided to sell and purchase morphine. Now, not only am I dumb, I am a drug addict.

My peers, classmates, "friends," and teachers began to treat me differently.

For weeks I could not walk from one class to the next without students jokingly asking me if they could purchase morphine. At the basketball games, our student body would chant: "Hey cheers! Let me see you sell your morphine." Upon several occasions, I left school only to spend hours discussing with my mom the injustice of how I was being treated.

On one particular day in my history class, I was personally attacked by several of my peers. Apparently, their taunting struck a nerve with my teacher. He told them to stop and then launched into a ten minute speech. For me, the most important part of his speech was this: diversity comes not only from our backgrounds but also from our opinions, and when we are not open minded, these opinions become barriers.

This experience has caused me to appreciate diversity in the form of the educated opinions of others. People who make snap judgments are not open minded and allow their ignorance to show. I try to be unbiased, tolerant, and not allow my viewpoint to make me ignorant. As adults, we need to appreciate diversity and learn from the educated opinions of others.

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Submitted By: tiff wisherd

posted on 5/15/2006 @ 1:48:24 PM

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katheryn. i know just how you feel. when i was a cheer girls got kicked off almost eachmonth for drinking. those crowd chants can be hard. i always thought everyone at gm was very quick to judge.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kathryn Webb

Lakewood , CO

Kathryn Webb has posted 3 stories and 0 comments since joining on 5/14/2006. Kathryn Webb 's average story rating is 5.

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