On January 17, the United States celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is a day to remember the life and untimely death of a man who inspired a generation to change. He gave us the outline of what the world should be with one speech than began very simply "I have a dream."

Many years have passed since Dr. King's death, and as we celebrate the ideas he lived and died for, I am left wondering how far have really come toward achieving those dreams? Yes, segregation is no longer overtly practiced, but it is still practiced. The ideas of hate are still present, even if they are looked down on by the majority of society. Even the media has saturated us with the ideal that hating people for skin color or religion is simply wrong. Yet, they still exist in many forms.

As I am typing this I am watching The History Channel which is showing a history of the Aryan Nation in the U.S. And quite honestly, it is turning my stomach. The very idea that any one group of people is superior to any other group is, to me, ridiculous. The Nazi's killed millions of people under the idea that they were inferior or destroying the world.

It strikes me that the very essence of Nazism and racial hate is the idea that there is only one pure race that should allowed to live. Maybe it's just be, but that is utter bulls**t. Excuse my language, but this is something I feel very strongly about. How can any person say they are superior to anyone simply because of something as superficial as skin color or God they pray to?! Who is to say that the Aryan is the pure nation that is supposed to control the world?

The God I believe in says that all people are created equal, they all deserve a certain amount of respect. One of the best lessons I was ever taught was that I am not God, I can not pass judgement on other people. For the record, I am a young woman of strong German heritage, raised a Methodist. I have been fortunate to have never known what is like to be hated for no reason. And personally I don't think a person should be hated.

I started this web page on the basis of equality and expression with stereotypes or prejudice. Those are the ideals I live by and express openly. Someone made a comment to me that it is really unfair that an individual has to become faceless in order to express themselves without judgement. It's true and unfair, but that is the way it is.

Janet Jackson said "In complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdome that separates us." I think this is also true. But I don't see why we have to live with these innate prejudices?

But, changes don't come over night, especially ones that would change the way an entire society believes and looks at others. At the beginning of this essay, I asked the question, how far have we come since Dr. King's speech in the 1960's? The best answer I can come up with is to say that we have come a long way, but we can't stop now - there is a lot further we have to go before we have accomplished the goals Dr. King set.