The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

There is one particular incident for me that I will never forget...
I was a Junior in high school, I was in American History class and we had just finished taking a test so we all had a few minutes to just sit and chat quietly until our next class.  I was at the front of the class and I was turned around to talk to the girl behind me; we will call her 'J'.  I did not normally associate with her and our circle's of friends rarely mixed but we were having a nice conversation.

Somehow, we reached the topic of religion.  Now, J, as I knew was catholic and so was her whole family.  She asked me "What religion are you?"  I responded honestly; "I believe in a hire power but I do not believe in church."  She looked me right in the eye and said "You are on crack!" and turned around and did not speak to me for the rest of your high school lives.

J's physical reaction of turning away from me, yelling at me diminished equality literally, physically; she did not allow me a chance to respond, to explain, or to justify or further clarify my beliefs.  My beliefs were not hers and therefore I was not equal to her nor, apparently, worth any more of who she was, our potential friendship or myself.

My initial feeling was that of shock!  I couldn't believe what had just transpired and her immediate, outburst of a reaction to my answer.  However, J's response only confirmed my religious beliefs.

If J would have continued the conversation rather than just cutting me off we could have actually had a conversation about why, who, what etc. that, even though she may have disagreed with me, we could have created equity and understanding.