Our trash looks the same

The farm I used to work on went under last year, so I was forced to find new employment for the summer. For some reason ' I'm guessing it was the pictures I sent ' the modeling career didn't work out as I'd hoped, so I ended up as a janitor in an Indianapolis factory. \nI know, it's not the most glamorous job. For a while I considered just staying here and taking a summer lecture class, but I found a viable alternative; I could just flush $400 down the toilet and sit on the couch hitting myself with a hammer for an hour and 15 minutes four times a week. I would have gotten the same effect.\nThe factory was a bit run down, as were many of the workers. For us, casual Friday meant we didn't have to brush our teeth. Since my social skills are lacking and I have only a moderate knowledge of NASCAR facts, I worked the night shift to avoid talking to anybody. \nI cleaned up after both the regular Joes on the factory floor and the bigwigs who worked upstairs in the offices. After weeks of cleaning up wrappers, cans, papers, magazines, etc, I came to a single undeniable conclusion; no matter what the social standing of the bigwigs and the average Joes, their garbage all looked the same. \nI also noticed the guys on the factory floor used specific and derogatory racial slurs ' words we all know but that my editor doesn't think are fit to print.\nI'm back at IU now, among the intellectual elite. The students and professors belong to a higher social class than the fellas I worked with. They say African Americans have a hard time adjusting to a social structure that expects them to work after so long on welfare. They say Hispanics should not be allowed into the country because they are taking jobs, and they want to speak their native language everywhere. They say homosexuals are dragging down the morality of the country. These intellectuals, undergrads, grads and professors all make eloquent points, and always begin and end these speeches with phrases such as "Now don't get me wrong, I have friends who are black." After being back for a few weeks, I have come to a single, undeniable conclusion.\nYour garbage all looks the same.\nI don't think many people in this great age of tolerance really think in tolerant terms. It has become fashionable to respect everyone's racial and ethnic backgrounds. It seems to me that what people say has changed not out of respect, but simply because they want to be thought well of. I say this because, when I look around, I see enlightened white people driving SUVs to class while the Hispanics they are so tolerant of ride their bikes to Kroger to mop floors. I see groups of African Americans who, for whatever reason, mostly associate with other African Americans. \nI don't blame them. I assume it has less to do with "reverse racism," whatever that is, and much more to do with the fact that they can't make themselves fit into the prolonged episode of "Dawson's Creek" that is IU.\nI will not pretend to be able to relate to people who are minorities. I am not one. But I can understand what it feels like to be walking around amongst the herds of sweater-vest wearing mouth-breathers. They seem offended that not everybody wants their kind of life. When they speak of tolerance and diversity, what they really want is to suck away every bit of individuality from the people of whom they are so tolerant. "I don't mind gays as long as they don't act fruity." "I can't talk to black people when they start jiving." "I wish that kid would lose that funny small-town accent." \nI ask those of you who think this way: Who designated you as the ones we have to impress? \nI'm not saying all whites are advantaged and all minorities disadvantaged. Not at all. It's just odd to hear so much talk about tolerance and diversity at a campus that is whiter than Al Gore.\nTolerance is much more than words. Tolerance is much more than a lack of negative action. You might not burn crosses, hurl stones or commit any other hate crimes, but let me ask you, what are you doing that's positive?