Above the Law: Cliques separate society

As a student here at Texas A&M University-Commerce, I have had ample opportunity to see interactions amongst different groups both on and off campus. Thus far, the social interactions are reminiscent of high school for me.

We are here to broaden our horizons and better our future, but on a social level I don't see this happening as much as I would like.

It's not really a surprise to me, but people are grouping together and excluding outsiders quite often.

I suppose it is just in our nature as human beings to clique up with one another according to certain criteria, but to do so to the exclusion of others makes it a form of prejudice.

If you spend any time looking around campus, you can see this too.

There are groups of football players only hanging out with other football players. There are fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters that will only socialize with others in their shared groups. To a lesser extent, there are even groups of people that will only speak to people of their same race.

Ultimately, we are not that different, and yet we treat each other as if we are. We all want the same things that life has to offer: financial stability, someone to love, a nice home and car, etc.

So why is it we do not cross-socialize more often with people that are not like us?

Humans are social creatures by nature, but we allow our upbringing and/or bias to keep us boxed in socially with people who are like us and exclude anyone who is not. And when you look at all of the division within society outside, it is no wonder we are the way we are.

There is a holy war waged against America right now.

The gay rights issue has split families and congregations all over. There have been heated debates for years over abortion. The list goes on and on.

It seems like a vicious cycle that we are all doomed to repeat over and over again. But there is one key to beating this way of thought, and that is awareness of the issue.

We are bombarded with division from the time that we are born. We are constantly told that we are white, black, Asian or Hispanic. We are told that we are in different financial classes. We are grouped together as "haves" and "have nots". We are classified by the clothes we wear, the things we eat and how we look.

I would like to think I lived in a society that was more inviting towards a person of another color, a "nerd" or obese person, but I know it's not the way things are most of the time. I try my best to get to know as many different kinds of people as I can here at the university. You never know what you can learn by stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning about someone you didn't know before.

I know I would not be who I am today if it were not for being open to others and accepting of ways I might not understand.

So I challenge all of you here to step outside of your comfort zone and get to know someone you would not normally approach. Who knows, you might just learn something.