This past week I attended a camp associated with the Rotary Club, called RYLA. RYLA is a leadership conference, and an experience I will never forget, the various speakers and activities we got to be a part of were definitely eye openers. The first class we attended was a diversity class and I can honestly say that I wasn't too excited about it.

Usually when attending any sort of diversity class, you automatically assume race will be the main topic of conversation, however; when speaking with Mrs. Sutton, her interest was the millennials. She decided that many of the issues with race were fixated in generations, because in reality, students our age don't pay much attention to race, we've become accustomed to look at personality, as it should be, rather than the color of skin. But that doesn't mean that one shouldn't be proud of where they came from.

A big concern these days has become stereotypes. People are judged based on their skin, where they live, what they eat, etc. and citizens have yet to understand that no two individuals are alike.

Not all Muslims are terrorists.

Not all African Americans are thugs.

Not all white people are wealthy.

Not all blondes are stupid.

American is supposed to be a place of freedom and opportunity, however; with recent events people have begun ostracizing others based on traits such as those listed above. I blessed with the opportunity to serve on the Red Cross Youth Board, which has meant so much to me and my growth in this area. I can strongly say that I know have friends of all different races, religions and walks of life that I trust.

It's becoming difficult to see the light in this constant time of darkness in our country, but I think this is when we need to be the most concerned with our country. Rather than pushing issues aside, we need to face them head on. With recent events, I can understand it being difficult to to trust people who aren't like you, everyone has issues in that department because we naturally gravitate to what we know, but it's time for that to stop.

It's time for America to wake up and realize it's not the religion that's the problem, it's the person. It's the person pulling the trigger, or the person committing the crime.

An entire group of people shouldn't be judged based on the poor judgement of a sole human. With all of our technology and all of the advances our country, we should be passed immature things like stereotypes, they should be beneath us by now.

All we can hope is that society starts to realize that people are different. No two are alike, therefore, why should we treat them as so?