You probably remember a special lesson from a particular teacher. Most of us do. With talk of racism filling the air lately one of those special lessons popped up in my head.

It was from a high school teacher. It survived the years because it was both crystal clear and simple. And because it was the bottom line of the bottom line of racism and well beyond.

And yet he said nothing about racism. Or about the ugly segregation that existed in the South in those years. He merely had us examine the word “prejudice.” And, in turn, its concept.

We quickly grasped its literal meaning: pre-judgment. An opinion formed in advance. Making up your mind ahead of time. Next he had us look for prejudice in our village lives. Did we assume a kid from a certain family was stupid? Because his brothers and sisters were. Did we assume one from another family was smart? Because her siblings were. In other words, did we pre-judge them?

If a boy was effeminate, did we assume he was gay? (The word was “queer” in those days). If a girl could deck any guy in the school did we assume she was one of those, you know, those kinds of girls?

If a family bought a top-of-the-line car, did we pre-judge them to be wealthy? Did we do this without considering they might have plunged into debt to buy it?

Did we assume all fat kids were fat only because they ate too much? Did we make certain assumptions when the father in a family was a lawyer? Or a judge? Or a banker? Or a garbage collector?

When we learned the family?s name is Rodriguez, what thoughts came to mind? Were they different thoughts from those for the Kelly family? Did the names Hermione inspire different thoughts than Sue and Mary? If we met a kid named Wickliffe Van Smyth III, did we automatically think good or bad things about him?

What did we feel when we saw someone on television say “You Americans love wars?” How would we feel if a visitor from France said “Well, you’re an American. That’s why you think that way.”

The lesson was obvious. We pre-judge things, people, countries, situations. We are prejudiced for, prejudiced against thousands of things.

At times, of course, prejudice is a good thing. You pre-judge the roads to be dangerous when we’ve had ten hours of snow.

But it is too easy for us to fall into the habit of pre-judging things that don’t deserve it. And it is painful to us when others pre-judge us.

Once you are alert to it, you can see prejudice everywhere. He’s pretty liberal for a businessman. Or for a green, she is really conservative. He’s a politician, but I’m told he’s honest.

Last week, Joe Biden told a little girl she was as smart as any boy. Attaching a level of smartness to ?any boy? is, of course, prejudice. And my reaction was that remarks like this are par for the course for our veep. I pre-judge him. I expect he will make insensitive remarks. I have been prejudiced by his foot-in-the-mouth history.

The racial problems of late all have their roots in pre-judgments. He was black, therefore? He is a white cop, so?

The grand jury should? The rioters were black, which means?. The decision did not go the way I wanted ? even though I never heard the evidence.

My teacher hoped to get us to think. To think about our thinking, our thoughts. He hoped to open our eyes to the countless prejudices we hold. He hoped to help us recognize when we fall victim to “My mind’s made up. Don’t confuse me with facts.” I wish he had taught some of our leaders.

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