The Path Beyond Blissful Ignorance

By Anonymous / Winter 2021

Dear Younger Self,

Your parents never really talked to you about politics as you grew up. You didn't even really know what a republican or a democrat was till your classmates in middle school started saying "thanks Obama" every ten minutes when they had a minor inconvenience. You will even pronounce political wrong in front of a bunch of people because of this unfamiliarity. As a middle schooler, you really have no idea what is going on in the world. Living in pure ignorance, blissfully going through middle school. You knew something was wrong with the world for a brief moment when the stock market crashed in 2008, and you had to watch your parents argue for days while losing their business they were so proud of. But you went right back to your bubble only knowing your dad finally found a good job and that your parents are glad that Obama won a second term. The bubble that belonged to the Orange County suburbs was real and affected you greatly. At one point, when you were ten, you even wanted to be blonde, just like the other girls in the bubble. You were tanner and had darker hair than most everyone in your classes, but you didn't really think much of it and tried to continue to conform to the bubble.

You will later find out that the kids in your band class calling you a terrorist every day was actually not okay and that you not doing anything about them will somehow haunt you as you grow older. You will soon find out that not everything is fine with our society and that not everyone loves each other no matter how they look or who they love. The day you will get a taste of that is in eighth grade when a new girl comes into the school from Compton. She was sweet and funny, a potentially great friend. But, other students automatically ostracized her due to the fact that she was the only black student in our grade. Yet you still befriended her, and you soon found out that the school administration would search her backpack every day. They never found anything but still continued to search her every morning, even making her late to first period constantly. You will also find out her home situation was not good and that she struggled every day due to her grandmother's "incompetence," as she would say when speaking about her grandmother. Soon after a while, you would notice that her backpack smelled of something you've never smelled before and would later hear from other students that it was the smell of weed. You did not believe this and just assumed the kids were mean. Later, before she mysteriously leaves without a trace, she explains herself to you even though you didn't ask or bother her about it because she knew other students were talking about her. Her stepfather smoked a lot and would never open a window in the small apartment they lived in, causing her backpack and sometimes her clothes to smell. Even though the kids in your grade continued to gossip and never actually spoke to her, you stayed by her side. Allowing yourself to open your eyes to racial and educational problems within our country.

Throughout your newfound friends' stay in Mission Viejo, the school continuously searched her and ostracized her, basically forcing her away from the bubble. You once assumed everyone was treated fairly here in America that no one discriminates against anyone. The bubble made you trust America and blindly believe that America and the education system had no faults. Your friends' mistreatment leads to her mysteriously leaving the school and you never hearing from her again. Her face will always be there when you think about middle school, and you will continue to hope that she is okay eight years later. But her presence led to knowledge and mistrust towards the system. You will soon become political and know what a republican and a democrat are. You will become "radicalized," as your mother will say when you turn twenty and want to pursue a career in something you have no clue about. Some things that will radicalize you are the stories of Emmett Till. A black child who was murdered because of a false accusation that led to an unfair trial due to the color of his skin. The stories about the Central Park Five will have you sobbing for three days but will make you stronger in wanting to fight against the system. You will hear about the injustices that the Native Americans have faced. How in the history classes you have had throughout your schooling has been romanticizing the Native Americans. Teachers taught you that Native Americans were some happy people that were converted peacefully to become apart of the same bubble that the white people of America had created. But, you will find that everything that was romanticized was a lie and how boarding schools were set up for Native Americans to become whitewashed. The society that had taken their land and almost committed genocide took their culture from them as well.

You were blissfully ignorant, and you could have stayed that way but remember what happened when someone came into your community's bubble and how they were treated. Remember that you could have kept yourself in the bubble and followed along with the other kids and ostracized her, but you didn't because you knew compassion. Befriending her will not become the wrong choice or end up blowing up in your face even when the others look at you weird for speaking to her. It will only lead to a new path that takes you to a more compassionate and political you.