Susan B. Anthony once said, “If one of us is not equal, none of us is free.” Her statement reflects two things I believe in completely. First, that we are all connected and second that only if we are equal are we truly free to be whom we strive to be. As any teacher knows, each person or student is unique, but there is much more that unites us than divides us. Linda Ellerbe writes, “People are pretty much alike. It’s only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.” There is an Old Italian Proverb that says, “Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. In other words, we go through our lives doing what we do, hopefully well and with kindness, but at the end of the game, we all go back in the box. How does this reality play out in the treatment of minorities? Malcolm X had an interesting insight. He said, “Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream about equality. He eloquently envisioned “a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.” Realize today that no matter how unique and different you are, underneath your differences you are the same as the person next to you; you are the equal of everyone around you, and they are yours.