Sad, poignant and, to the shame of us all, so terribly true for so many innocent people.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

A noble statement. Not an accurate one. Humanity is replete with inequality and even worse, inequity.

For some unfathomable reason, far too many, perhaps even the majority of human beings, see difference as deficit / threat / unworthy and a range of other such negatives.

Until we all accept difference not as deficit but as opportunity, not as detrimental but enriching and not as an aberration but simply as beneficial diversity, the obnoxious, life-ruining crimes of injustice - too often committed knowingly - will continue.

Until that time, pain, suffering, broken lives, heartache and trauma will affect far too many good people. It will also continue to affect particular groups of people entirely disproportionately for no other reason than prejudice which, quite contrary to the Declaration of Independence, show that, whether or not there is a creator or that "all men are created equal" - it is most certainly and indisputably true that:

'all men and women are not equal in the minds of far too many, including far too many who make, maintain and enforce laws and pontificate about freedom and justice.

It is, I believe, reasonable to say that one of the most common but despicable of human traits is hypocrisy.