ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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Acceptance of Differences

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a la Shmoop

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All right, suppose you've got two cups. [man pouring coffee for himself and a friend in two different colored cups]

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You're hanging out with a friend and you offer her a drink.

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You give her a green cup and take a blue one

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for yourself. But your friend has an issue

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with her cup. She doesn't think green cups

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are as good as blue cups. [friend refusing to have coffee in the green cup]

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You don't see what the big deal is. Coffee is coffee.

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But your friend refuses to drink out of it and says

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if you keep the cup, she won't feel comfortable

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associating with you.

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Whoa, sounds pretty ridiculous, right?

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It's not like the cup had any influence in the way it was made or [a green cup in a factory]

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the way it was made was bad or anything.

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Well, now, replace those cups with people.

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See where we're going with this? Yeah,

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we're pretty sneaky, huh?

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Gender, race, sexual orientation,

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religion, political views.

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They're all sorts of viewpoints that

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may differ from our own, and that's terrifying, right? [few papers pinned on a bulletin board]

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Well, it doesn't have to be. Here's the thing.

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We have no reason to fear these differences.

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If anything, we should embrace them.

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Heck, life would be pretty dull if we all agreed

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about everything all the time.

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Call us crazy, but we like some good, healthy conflict

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once in a while. [two men talking about their favorite super hero]

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And even with all our differences, we have one important thing in common.

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We're all human.

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If you prick us, do we not bleed?

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If you poison us, do we not die?

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If you tickle us, do we not laugh?

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Heh. Yeah. That Shakespeare, he's pretty good. [Shakespeare impressed by the man's words]

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We tend to gravitate towards the familiar

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because it's safe. People who aren't

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like us, well, they're the ones we have to watch out for.

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After all, this guy probably has a bomb

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strapped to his chest, right? [man holding a bowling ball]

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And this guy's definitely carrying a gun, right?

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And if you let these two get too close

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to your kids, chances are they'll infect them, right?

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Or could it be that you're just narrow-minded and judgmental? [two men on TV talking to each other]

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Watching too much TV from the 1970s, hmm?

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If you let your prejudices run your life,

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they're gonna lead to you missing out

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on a whole bunch of rewarding relationships.

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Because this terrifying guy?

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He actually shares your love of vintage cars,

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horror movies, and soccer. [man enjoying vintage cars,movie and a game of soccer]

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Sounds like the basis of good friendship to us.

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The bottom line is that we're all sharing this

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giant rock floating in a galaxy that's

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far too big and complicated for any of us to

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really understand.

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And if you think about how improbable it is

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that you're sitting wherever you are watching this video, [woman watching a Shmoop video on her computer]

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and we mean really improbable.

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Your parents had to find each other.

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Their parents had to find each other, and so on and so forth

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up a generation.

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It's kind of a miracle that any of us is actually here.

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And remember, we're on this planet for basically a millisecond [boy celebrating his birthday and wishing he was older]

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in the grand scheme of things. Why waste it

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spreading intolerance and hate?

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So our advice, not that you're asking for it -

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Go out there and talk to someone you normally wouldn't.

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You might be surprised at what they have to offer.

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Because if we're all sharing this big, beautiful rock [man and a woman holding a globe together]

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for a millisecond, well, we might as well like the people we're sharing it with.

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[ applause ]

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