It’s Time To Look Past Our Differences

I'm going to mix a little old school and new school terminology here, so please read the whole thing before you judge.  When I was younger, Hispanic people were referred to as "Mexican".  I REALLY don't like this "switch over" to Hispanic because it somehow gives the impression that being "Mexican" is wrong or something.  I guess Hispanic is better because it includes Colombians and people from South America, but I never did run into that many people whose families where from places other than Mexico.

Here's some facts about family.  My grandma was Mexican.  She wasn't my dads mom, but for about 30 years she was the only grandma I ever knew. My aunt married a Mexican man. My Uncle Bear married a Mexican woman.  When I was a kid we played with Mexican kids and when I went to High School my best friend was Mexican.  Now here's the funny thing, I never heard "Mexican" used in a real derogatory way until I was an adult.  Keep in mind too, that I had to deal with REAL Mexican gangs where I grew up and even then we never thought they were assh@les "because they were Mexican", they were assh@les because they were assh@les and that was it.

It is still surprising and offensive to me when I hear someone say something like "oh she's marrying a Mexican" (as if it's a social faux pax or something).  Seriously, I never heard that kind of racism in 1970's California and now I hear in 2014 in Texas? I kind of think it's time that people get over these labels that divide us and remember the stuff that brings us together.  I don't have "a Mexican Uncle",I have Uncle Richard. I don't have "a Mexican Aunt", I have Aunt Maria.  And most importantly, I don't have "Mexican friends", I have friends.

The world is getting smaller every day.  It's time to get rid of the labels and realize we're all in this together.  People aren't really that different. Some are shaded differently. Some talk funny. Some eat strange stuff. At the end of the day though, they're still just people.