People make judgements all the time about others with little to no knowledge and that can cause a lot of problems in society if it runs amuck. We have a whole new batch in society growing up and they come with more enlightened values. This generation is much more diverse and will bring with them new thoughts and ideas. Societal Value might be seen through a whole different kind of lens not based in superficial thinking.
During my time any difference in racial or religious beliefs often came with a level of disdain and in many cases mistreatment. Not by all of course, but by segregationists with little or no respect for what makes us distinctly American. There were few backstops and in some circles wobbling loyalties to our Constitution.
The young generations won't see people through such distorted values. They will be more concerned about the essence of who a person is versus what their outside appearance might be, their form of worship, or their extra curriculum activities. A person will be seen more holistically because their brains have familiarity with diversity and can process it more accurately (This is why the old can not always understand the perspective of the young even though they were once young themselves.)
As a person open to different religious experiences (Catholic, Muslim, Jew with great respect for other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism) and mixed race children, I know all too well what hate can do to society and do to our lives on an actualized level. Some of us stood tall against it while others groveled at the feet ignorance and kissed the toes of prejudice.
It made no difference to these people my sacrifices to society nor my essence as a person. My achievements, successes and failures all swept into the same leaky basket and thrown overboard. While not perfect, I am a good person who has done a lot of good things for people and continues to do so based on hope that we will reorient our values to those things we profess (alignment between word and deed).
However, for some the superficial is more is more important than the deep. Ones politics is more important than their values, ones self-enrichment is more important than their loyalties, and most importantly ones social perception is more important than their soul (integrity and truth).
The new generation won't view people as having low or high societal value based on false anchors of race or religion. Because of that diversity they can only judge another man/women by their actions and not the judger's bias. Diversity is not a dirty word to be discarded but instead a natural part of their lives.
The young generation can teach the old about low and high societal value as well. Low being those who engage in partisan politics, hate, and corruption of position and high being those who stand fast to solving problems, tolerance, and standing by their oaths to make their nation stronger. When young have more knowledge then the old, we know we need to change. The question then becomes how?
Democracy allows each generation to peacefully create value and redefine decisions from generation to generation. Many other forms of government cannot say the same. As this new group comes to power, I suggest they learn from the past on what not to do and what can be done. They can then vote for what they want versus accepting the dictation of those who rarely pick up a history book or scribble with a pen.
Learn from those who were the trailblazers for a higher level of universal democracy where we are valued by who we are and not by what others perceive us to be. The young have better vision than the old as well. A few have better than far sighted 20/20 vision. It is the old's responsibility to prepare them. Reconnecting Democracy for the Next Generation
We may consider each generation as a separate nation, with a right, by the will of the majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country. -Thomas Jefferson
(The beginning of the Bill of Rights in Madison-Jefferson Exchange)
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