Then of course, I looked back at the KA picture and I found a few things that should be added to their indictments:

• Man wearing sombrero/ethnic dress (Hatred of Mexicans)
• Man dressed as priest (hatred of Catholics)
• Man dressed in toga (hatred of Greeks)
• Men dressed in war paint/army fatigues (hatred of the military)
• Man wearing large goggles (hatred of scuba divers)
• Woman dressed as bumblebee (hatred of insects)

However, here is where this reasoning starts to fail. On page 29 of the yearbook, there is a picture from Unity Week, in which several students have painted their faces to look like other races. Blatant racism, right?

Well, unfortunately, the caption to these pictures reads: "Students dressed up during Unity Week to emphasize cultural diversity." I'm a little confused. Is it an expression of diversity or blatant racism when someone dons a look or attire from another race or culture? Shouldn't we at least take the time to find out before we publicly convict, condemn and humiliate the people involved?

After reading this (and fighting off the urge to flog myself), I wish that people would stop talking for just a second and consider the possibility that maybe when we look out into the world, we see what we want to see. We see what we need to see. What if all we ever can see in our society and in our fellow men is just what fits into our very limited perceptions and understandings? It seems possible that our perceptions, our distrust and our rage might really be nothing more that just reflections of our own thinking and being.

It may be true that reality is perception, but sometimes I'm left to wonder if in our haste to politicize, we are not inadvertently letting our perceptions create a very dangerous reality of our own.

Rebecca Katz-Doft is a senior from Atlanta.