I can't vouch for the universality of this statement, nor can I claim to have fleshed out all of the whys and wherefores of it, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
During my research on language policy in Illinois, and after seeing how much language is tied into immigration, I have decided this:
We can never be better than our worst opinion of another.
I've come across websites so filled with hatred that I had to wonder whether they were real; sadly, they were. My question is, how can anyone claim to be better than another, if they believe that the "other" is (to put it mildly) sub-human and disgusting?
I firmly believe that anyone who believes that someone is less valuable than they themselves are, whether due to popularity, station, ethnicity, or anything else, has proved that they themselves are really beneath the people they are against.
Am I guilty of prejudice? Certainly, at times. However, the grace of God has taught me that no matter how wonderful I think I am, I am still unworthy of grace. That's why it's grace; that's why we have no right to withhold it from others.
