In response to the latest in the case of the 4 year old who was suspended for having hair covering his ears (yes, this is in OUR country!)...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/education/13hair.html?scp=1&sq=James%20C.%20McKinley%20Jr.%20A%20suburgan%20Dallas%20school&st=cse> Link to article on NY Times

Really? Suspending a 4 year old from his preK class because his hair is too long? You have GOT to be kidding me.

I just have to wonder what the officials hope to gain by ensuring that the Child Whose Hair Makes Him Look Like a Girl is separated from the other children. Are they afraid he will attempt to coax others over to the “dark side”?

Fear. That’s what it’s all about. Plain and simple fear. A four year old child has riled the likes of school superintendents and officials because he chooses to wear long hair. Well, I have a few choice words for those so-called officials…

Excuse me, “sirs and Mesdames”, but this is not the America I signed up for. That world of fear, based on length of hair, color of skin, language of middle eastern origins, imperfections and disfigurements (as you call them) of the human body, and God’s-wrath-that-will-surely-descend-upon-us-with-unparalleled-force-and-destruction-if-we-don’t-all-hop-on-the-Bible-train-STAT was voted out of office over a year ago. Didn’t you get the memo? There is no room for your intolerance of this nature, let alone directed at a child.

I presume you are enjoying a day off today, in honor of the much respected Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A man whose message was clearly lost on you, yet no doubt, you speak of as though you understand and have taken his words to heart. You have not. You yet have much to learn. Read the words to his famous speech again. No really, read them. You know the part: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."? Well, clearly Taylor Pugh is not being judged by the content of HIS character.  

While you relax numbly in your congealed fear and celebrate a day in honor of a man with far more tolerance and acceptance than you, please do try to find it within that heart-three-sizes-too-small of yours to understand the fate you have sealed for little Taylor Pugh. You have single-handedly brought to light your own intolerance and skewed, narrow-minded opinions that have, for far too many generations, impaired our species and diminished the potential for the human gene pool.  

In ostracizing Taylor, you have turned the gun to your own temples. Intolerance, ultimately, cannot be tolerated. Our human race is poised for extinction if you feel otherwise. Unfortunately, you have sacrificed an innocent child's future in the process of your own misunderstanding. So, I’m just curious, how do you justify your actions? How do you explain to Taylor that the adults in his school life disapprove of him and his preferences so much and how he looks (ugh!), that he is not permitted the same experience as his friends?  

Perhaps Taylor has a lesson for you if you are courageous enough to open your mind to it. If you are man (and woman) enough to face your own intolerances (which translates to fears, ultimately), and admit that a dated rule has little to no relevance in this new millenia, then perhaps our species is not a lost cause after all.