You can't judge a book by it's cover - how many times have we heard that? I know I heard it all the time when I was growing up. It was my parents way of making me realize that there are some really cool people out there if you just take the time to get to know them.
Unfortunately lately I've come to realize that though the Civil Rights movement was some 40 years ago, there are still a lot of prejudices that still exist. Not only when it comes to race, but religion, politics you name it. Anyone will tell you I am a VERY liberal person; most of the time I don't care if you're black, white, asian, blue, purple, Jewish, Catholic, Atheist, whatever. In my book if you're not hurting anyone who cares? Do I always agree with everyone? Of course not, we all have our own opinions, but I'm not going to stop being your friend just because you believe something I don't.
There is no greater example I could give than of me and my friend Bino. On the surface Bino and I couldn't be more different. I am a short, white, Catholic, grammar correcting "goodie two shoes". Bino on the other hand is a tall, mexican, God believing, yet everything's a conspiracy, don't correct my grammar sometimes trouble maker. However dig deeper and you can begin to see the similarities; we're both single parents trying to do the best by our kids, we both LOVE to debate, we both love calling people out on things, and we hate the baby daddy/mamma drama. I first met Bino when I was working and he came on as our new security guard, I thought to myself "Oh good let's see how THIS one works out" (we'd had some pretty shitty so called guards). After awhile though, the more we talked the more I realized we had in common. Sure there were a lot of things we disagreed on - especially when it comes to politics, but we were always able to discuss things in a civilized manner. However we also both believe in God, we want the best for our children, and we both intend to be wealthy one day lol There was also alot we learned about each other too. He taught me about street things, the music world, and how to think outside the box. I taught him (or so I like to think) that not all baby mamas cause drama, there is more than one way to look at things, and some proper grammar lol We've discussed all things taboo: politics, religion, race, etc. One of the funniest ones was when we were discussing gangs; in particular the Latin Kings. I don't remember what exactly we talked about but I remember him laughing and saying "Man Karyn you are the LAST person I expected to be having this conversation with"
What I'm getting at here is that sometimes you have to look past things to get at the real person. So what if someone's Muslim and you're Christian; if you were dying and they could save you - why not let them? A person's religion, race, political status, etc are only parts of the whole. They're one part of the whole person; it's like your body - your kidneys aren't responsible for everything that goes on in it - it's one organ among many. When I think about how many people won't have anything to do with a person simply because of their beliefs or their race it saddens me because I think about how much they might be missing out on.
I think the thing that makes it worse is those ppl that think like that who have children. Let's face it: prejudice isn't born, it's learned. I'd like to think that I'm teaching my son to be open minded and accepting of all people. He once asked me in not so many words why two guys couldn't get married; my answer to him was that some ppl don't think it's right, but that you can't help who you fall in love with. I said you can love who ever you want. What's even more awesome is that he has several mixed cousins - black, white, mexican - just about everything so race is one area that's never been a problem for him - to this day I don't think he sees color when it comes to ppl and it makes me smile. I try to be as honest with him as possible about things in general, sometimes it's hard because he's only 9 and a young 9 at that. However I want him to grow up knowing that people are at the heart of things basically the same: We all want to love and be loved, we all have fears, and we're all just trying to make it. So the next time you think you know something about someone, dig a little deeper - you'd be amazed at what you find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment