I Give a Damn

My name is Sergio, and I am a Mexican-American, 16 year old from California. Having grown up in a not-so-great neighborhood, and my family being middle-class, my whole life I have had to work my butt off for anything I’ve wanted. With college coming quick, it’s something I have to do a whole lot more. But those are things I am incredibly proud of.

However, something I am not proud of is to be a part of a society that seems to run on hate.

Whenever I hear the words “illegal” or “alien” or ” beaner,” I just feel sorry for the amount of ignorance in the world. Whenever I see news headlines of people getting discharged from serving a country they love just because they love the same sex, I feel angry at the level of prejudice in the world. But whenever I am questioned why I support gays or immigrants or anybody “different”, I feel totally motivated to help the world change.

I give a damn because I do not believe that any human being is illegal. I do not believe that any love is wrong. I don’t believe that two people should be forbidden to marry. I don’t believe in stereotypes or prejudice. I don’t believe that being any race, religion, sexuality, gender, or age makes you any less of a human being.

And I give a damn because in my lifetime, I want to see hate be torn apart and buried in the ground, and I want to live in a world where to live your life happily, it doesn’t need to matter who you are or where you come from. I will live and die by that dream, and I will do anything and everything I can, along with everyone else who shares the same dream, to help change the world.