What Do We Do With Variation?

What do we do with a difference?
Do we stand and discuss its oddity
or do we ignore it?
Do we shut our eyes to it
or poke it with a stick?

Do we clobber it to death?
Do we move around it in rage
and enlist the rage of others?
Do we will it to go away?
Do we look at it in awe
or purely in wonderment?
Do we work for it to disappear?
Do we pass it stealthily
Or change route away from it?
Do we will it to become like ourselves?
What do we do with a difference?
Do we communicate to it,
let application acknowledge it
for barriers to fall down?
James Berry

The poem 'What do we do with Variation' by James Berry mainly means, what do we do when someone differenet ( skin color, language, and even clothes) comes into our lives. Do we stand around and give that person 'the look'? Do we laugh as they make one mistake? Do we bully them because they are not like us? Do we force them to be like us? Or, do we stay by them through their tough times and treat them like any other human being?

This poem reminds me of when I first came to my new school in Qatar. I was only 4 and I was one of the only people that had white skin. People just stared at me and some talked behind my back. When I was small I didn't understand why they were doing that, but now I do. Most don't know what else to do. Others follow the lead of the 'cool' people. And the rest just were raised that way. All I wanted was for everyone to accept me.

This poem also reminds me of the story 'The Blokes' by Alan Gibbins. This story is about a british school in the UK and a group of British kids that bully everyone. You see, new refugees come in from Kosovo because they can't live in their villages any more. Anyway, The Blokes bully the Refugees, I think, because they don't know what else to do. they are confused and think that they can do anything to the young refugees.

So next time you walk by a person that is 'different', say hi and be friendly. Because all they want is to fit in.