Way back in the days of mine I learned a lesson about life. Well, maybe not about life but about people and prejudice. During a particularly warm beautiful day I was relaxing on the quad of a Southern California collage with an Asian friend of mine.
As a group of Asian girls walked by us and he asked me a question. "What do you think of Asian girls?" Not wanting to appear prejudice in any way, I replied, "I think they are nice". He waited a few moments and replied to me, "Don't you think that some are pigs and some are not?"
That sentence has stuck with me my whole life. I have tried to live by it. I believe he was saying some were cute and some were ugly and it did not matter if they were Asian or not. He was able to step outside of his nationality and make a judgment based on something other than ethnicity or race. He was able to judge on individual characteristics. I was doing just the opposite and judging on ethnicity and race. However my judgment was not based on facts or knowledge. I knew nothing about the Asian people or their culture. I was trying to show that I was not prejudice. As I thought about his statement I realized that I really was being prejudiced. I was judging something I knew nothing about. I did not put any thought or effort into my words. I just had to say something, so I said something stupid.
I believe that a lot of people are like that. We judge or make decisions without thinking it through. I try not to judge people by ethnicity of race but by their individual characteristics. If I like someone it is because I judge them to be a person that has traits I admire.
I try to make decisions based on fact not fantasy. I try to learn the difference.
I try to know a person before I put them in some preconceived slot.
It really does not matter where we come from, some of us are pigs and some of us are not.
4 comments:
Some are pigs and some are not, I guess that was the vernacular of the day. You were young, you had much to learn. You are always brutally honest about yourself. I admire that.
I know what you mean but 'pig' is rather harsh from anyone!
As to your query about the 'black
president ......I've wondered about that, myself. The white mother seems to be ignore. That's as racist as anything else!
Connie---thanks. I have always felt that looking into my soul with honesty
cleanses me and helps me to grow.
Rinky is right.. "pigs"is a little harsh but there is a scale. Maybe some are cute little baby pigs and others are big fat slop wallowing pigs.
I know as a country, many overseas find our country racists, and the term has widened to include many aspects now days. That second last sentence is spot on.
I sometimes think though, that the people calling others racists are using the word as a hammer against them to get their own way and it then becomes reversed.
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