True Story

I want to share a little story with y'all. Well more like a rant. Hang in there with me for a moment. This is a story about WHY assumptions, discrimination, hate, etc is so crazy, so ridiculous, so insane. This week, I've been discriminated against twice. I've been discriminated against in the past, but this week it got to my core just a little. You all know me. I am a loving, hard-working, dedicated person. I'm the first to give everything I can and have to someone in need. I lend helping hands when I can. Etc etc. Not that ANY of that matters. Well, it does, but it shouldn't. What should matter is simply that I am a human on this Earth just like you. Just like the person sitting next to you, or the person sitting across from you.

Anyway, so... earlier this week I was walking into Walmart with my 8-year-old daughter hand-in-hand and a man and women couple, who happened to be white, was walking out at the same time. The lady looked me dead in the face, eye to eye, and she had this grimace on her face. As she got shoulder to shoulder in passing she said to me, through clenched teeth, "you dirty Mexican" and then kept walking. I was taken back and it took me a few moments to process what just happened. I just kept walking and thought to myself her ignorance and hate is so saddening. I took a deep breath, envisioned a loving light surrounding my daughter and me, and I kept on walking.

Today my dad and I were talking with a man who happened to be Mexican. He, I assume, he thought we too were Mexican. In the conversation, I mentioned my trip to Puerto Rico. He made a sarcastic chuckle and then went on a rant about how lazy Puerto Rican's are and on and on. I looked at my father in disbelief, and asked him through a whisper, "does he not know we are Puerto Rican??" because I wasn't sure if this man was joking. He wasn't. He really thought we were Mexican and was standing there trashing Puerto Rican people to our face. I said, "dad, say something!". My dad chose to take the high road and not say anything. If it wasn't for my dad remaining standing with a smile on his face and ignoring this man's ignorance, still remaining friendly to this man clear display of prejudice, I likely would have lost it just a little. But my dad showed him love despite his wickedness. That was what kept me reeled in.

This man's ignorance, his hate, his prejudice will bring cancer to his core, but my dad and I would not allow it to bring it to ours. We stood there even still and treated him no less. Part of me, in the moment, wished we had said something, but the other part of me realizes that it wouldn't have made a difference to this man AND it was good we didn't let him bring out an ugly side of us because that is just as bad. You gain NOTHING by reacting. You gain EVERYTHING by keeping your light lit. WE, meaning you, me, and everyone else, need to keep spreading love even when faced with hate.

Now, my dad is, in fact, Puerto Rican, a US Army Veteran (as am I), and the kindest man you will EVER meet. So the lady at Walmart that was hating on me, thinking I was Mexican, and not knowing a thing about me, was completely wrong. Had she taken her hate to another level she would have been making the biggest mistake of her life for an assumption she was wrong about anyway. Those that follow us know what kind of person I am. This lady doesn't. And she hated on me without even knowing me. But let's just say I WAS Mexican. Either way, regardless if I'm Mexican (legal or illegal), Puerto Rican, Chinese, Purple, Pink, White, whatever! We are ALL humans and we are all doing the very best damn job we can to survive this wicked world. Hate does not belong on this Earth! Hate brings cancer to the core of a person. Hate divides. Hate makes assumptions. I'll sleep just fine tonight. Well not really, because I feel sad for the world my sweet little girl is growing up in. But I do know that I chose not to let THEIR cancerous hate cause an ugly response from me. I just want to share my story in hopes it helps someone to see how crazy this is. I'm not looking for pity or sympathy because I don't deserve it. I simply left my light lit when faced with wickedness. It's those wicked people filled with hate that need the sympathy. I feel sad for them. I just wanted to share how insane it is to treat someone differently, with such disdain, because they are different than you. Insanity. I feel sad for those that have to face this kind of disdain, this treatment, this discrimination on a daily basis. I pray for a loving light to shine on them...for them to continue to have the strength to not allow other peoples hate to cause their own light to go out. I feel sad for those who ACT with such disdain. For they have lost the light and love in their soul.