Revolutionary

I was having a somewhat humorous conversation with my mother about the different levels of discrimination between different ethnicities and we began brainstorming exactly what it would take to draw the peoples of the world together. Perhaps some kind of terrible natural occurrence, like a massive earthquake that struck multiple parts of the world or a meteor shower. Then again, though, people would still group together and war over what resources are left, so that kind of thing might actually have the opposite effect in the end. 
    So what if all the great leaders of the world tried spreading equality in their countries and in others by speaking to large crowds and passing laws about discrimination and segregation and eliminating them? Then, of course, the media would get in the way. The media has a habit of doing just that, by going against whatever peaceful things the leaders are saying by dragging up the dirty details and making everyone look bad and shining a negative light on everything.
    After discussing various other ways, my mother and I finally decided on a science fiction way of looking at it, one that we had a lot of fun with. What if aliens came to Earth? Hostile aliens that only wanted our resources or perhaps to eat us for dinner? Then the world's populations would surely come together to fight off their common enemy. Then there would be no one who cares about the differences between dark skin and light skin, only a unanimous hatred against the green-skinned folks that have come to ravage the planet. We would call them Vertos. We would all fight against them, these aliens, until they would finally leave.
    But then, once the Vertos had left, would humanity continue to treat all peoples with equality? One for all and all for one? Or would mankind revert to the old way of thinking, in which certain peoples are less than others because of their culture or ethnicity? My mother and I reasoned that it would be a fifty-fifty thing. Some people would find absolute joy in the equality that they can share with others; some people would find their own brand of joy in tormenting others. Such is the way of life.
    It made me start thinking, though. How could we build equality without an alien attack? How could we spread tolerance and peace without having to go by the saying, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? I began to imagine a great revolutionary, one like Gandhi, who stands up in front of a crowd and bellows, "I will respect you, but I demand your respect in return!"
    Scratch that. Rewind it. Erase, erase. 
    "I will respect you no matter what, even if you do not respect me!"
    There we go. The crowd is screaming now, bright grins on their faces as they holler his or her name. It is a chant, a prayer, calling up to the heavens to protect this man or woman who has dared to be great.
    "I will be the first to be tolerant! I will be the first to lay down my weaknesses and honesty at your feet and let you spit upon my own!"
    The crowd is wild beyond imagining. He or she is a hero, a wonderful madman who has brought hope to the eyes of little dirty children and their hardworking parents. He or she is the answer to late night wishes upon twinkling stars and fairy godmothers. He or she is the next Martin Luther King, Jr., the next Abraham Lincoln, the next Mother Teresa, and he or she has come to deliver this world from hatred and racism.
    Well, that is, if there isn't someone in the crowd with a gun ready to shoot him down. Humanity has an odd habit of extinguishing good things like that.