Jessica Miles

English H. Period 3
10-26-16

Finding Common Ground Speech

According to the Deceleration of Independence, all men are created equal. At least
thats what we all say. But then you turn on the News and theres a report about the Oklahoma
bombing, then a fews years later 9/11, and then the Boston bombing. People think to
themselves about the reasons as to why all this hatred and cruelty is happening to one another,
arent we supposed to be equal. Youd think that since we are all created equal that we would
treat each other equally as well. But unfortunately thats not the case. Individuals harm and kill
other individuals for many different reasons such as jealousy, rights, race, gender, and religion.
Its a shame that in society individuals cannot live in harmony together.

To begin with, individuals cant live together in harmony because its not possible with all
the conflict in the world. Author Anna Quindlen of A Quilt of a Country states that, because of
armed conflict and enemy attack. Terrorism has led to devastation (5). This shows how people
cannot live together in harmony because of conflict like terrorism that happens often do to many
reasons such as religion and rights. Anna Quindlen also states that, the clinging to ethnicity, in
background and custom, has under minded the concept of unity (4). This demonstrates how
people cant live in harmony together because of the conflict like ethnicity, background, and
customs which leads to diversity. In addition, individuals cannot live together in harmony
because of the people in the world who judge others and treat others unfairly and
disrespectfully. According to the story, Making the Future, Better Together written by Eboo
Patel who states that, women in Islamic headscarves brave the stares and scowls of some of
their fellow Americans. This proves how people cant live together in harmony because of the
people in the world who judge and treat others unkindly by staring at them negatively and
scowling at them. Eboo Patel also states that, hounded and hated, blamed for crimes they did
not commit (3). This shows how people cant live in harmony together because people are
judging and harassing them by hating on them.

Even though, people cannot live in harmony together, others say otherwise. According to
the author, Nadine Gordimer of Once Upon a Time people can live in harmony. Nadine
Gordimer states that, In a house, in a suburb, in a city, there were a man and his wife who
loved each other very much and were living happily ever after (12). This explains how people
like families can live in harmony. But, none the less, people still cannot live in harmony because
even though some families can live in harmony for a little bit conflict always happens in families
and causes the harmony in their lives to fade away.

In conclusion, according to Anna Quindlen and Eboo Patel people cannot live in
harmony because of conflict like terrorism and judgement that happens often in the world.