You Can Make It What You Want It to Be

11-26-2016
Michael Benavidez

While walking around campus it is impossible to not notice people

interacting with one another. UNM is a tight knit community comprised of
people from all over the world, people of many genders and 45% male to
55% female ratio. Treating everyone with the respect they deserve is crucial
in keeping our community a safe and welcoming place. In recent years
gender discrimination has been a huge issue in our world. With the growing
spectrum of social normality, it is important that we, as individuals, help
catalyze these changes. We can make it what we want it to be.
I am sure by now that most of us have heard about the woman who
had her hijab ripped from her head on campus recently. While this may not
be directly gender related, it is an act that hold us from moving forward.
This inconsiderate person performing the act is afraid of different things that
do not follow what they believe. This is exactly what must be embraced,
people being allowed to express whatever it is about themselves that they
want, without hurting anyone. This young woman has a set of beliefs and the
right to express those and there is no person who should be allowed to take
that away. Why is it that this is thought to be an appropriate act to perform
by someone?

Being kind and respectful can make an immense difference in

someones day. Even if it only impacts one person, that is still one person
that may feel better about themselves because of a small compliment from
you. Being open to new or different things can be both a learning experience
and a way to grow your understanding of what exists out beyond what you
have become accustomed to. Stepping out of your comfort zone can really
mold you into a better person, one experience at a time.
While the focus of this article is to treat those, who may be different
from you with respect, let us not forget to do the same for all people.
Consistency is key because what is the purpose of treating harmless activists
of any sort with respect if you will not do it for all. As much as you want to
be happy and comfortable in your environment, so does everyone else, so let
us work at making that as easy as possible for all types of people in our
society.
A group who takes a large amount of criticism are those who identify
as a gender other than heterosexual male or female. The fact that these
people are something different than most strongly upsets others. This is
incredibly unfair to the people who are not heterosexual. Who you are is not
set in stone and can continue to develop throughout your lifetime. When a
fellow student is harassed because of who they are that can have a major
impact on the rest of their life. When you see that who you are comfortable
as is not accepted by others, that may force you to try and cover up the true
expressions of yourself. An act of anger can deprive a person from living

their life in a way they wished to do it most, in a way that continues to be

viewed as taboo by too many people.
A small act of courtesy can make a world of difference to someone.
When you are walking out of class, hold the door for someone. It does not
matter whether you are a male, female, or any other identifier, something as
small as holding a door can make their day better. I have personally
witnessed a guy walk through a door and look back and see another male
was coming that way, and instead of holding it for this man he continued to
walk. Shortly after this encounter this same guy walked into his class and
help the door for two females walking in. Now, I am not saying that holding
the door for the two girls was wrong, however, he could have held it for the
other man just as easily but chose not to. There is an easily observable bias
of kindness in favor of females. Which again, let me emphasize, is not a bad
thing, it just seems that if we want gender and sex equality for all we should
show similar treatment to people of all genders and of both sexes.
Gender equality is currently being brought up within the UN. The
Orange the World event is focused on raising money to help end genderbased violence. A large focus of the campaign is to end violence towards
girls and women, which is an immense step for our world to take. With this
push for a change at the global level, we need to take initiative at the
personal level and begin to instill these behaviors at every chance we get. To
lead by example shows the most integrity in these situations, showing that
you are able to hold true to what the right thing to do is. Never be

embarrassed to do good just because there may be some who do not agree
with you.
Please do not get the idea that I believe we, as a community, are doing
a bad job of treating people well. Every day I see acts of kindness directed
towards all people, but with the recent election results it is easy to see that
some people are getting nervous about what is going to happen with issues
such as gender equality. This is just a friendly reminder saying that you have
the control to make the conditions around yourself pleasant for almost all
people. Of course, there will always be the ones giving resistance when you
are only trying to do good, but these scenarios only show that it is important
to make change happen. It will not be instant or by force but we will see the
campus of UNM, and eventually the world, make the alterations needed.
This must begin with each of us. So when you are walking around campus
share a smile, hold a door, pass on a compliment and make this world the
place you want it to be.