Are we being too sensitive and becoming desensitized?

Work sent me overseas to a Latin American country and some of my co-workers called all men Pedro. It was a joke and nobody really cared. But that got me thinking, if they did that at home in the US, people would be offended, even if there were not Latinos. This got me wondering, is the effort to not offend anybody going too far, to the point of being silly? Are we so vulnerable that anything can hurt us?

In my friend’s child soccer team, there are no goalies; no body wins or loses. I understand and agree that the game is supposed to be fun, and that US society tends to be extremely competitive, but trying to shield children from the experience of loosing a game may give them a false sense of entitlement and deny them the opportunity of learning how to lose; which frankly is as important as learning how to win.

We walk around on egg shells trying so hard not to hurt anybody’s feelings. Could it be that by not being exposed to disappointment and pain that we are creating children and adults with no empathy? Do you think a bully would do what they do if they had gone through something similar?

I see kids videotaping themselves hitting others, doing flash mobs of theft and other unimaginable things with no regard for consequences. If you don’t learn early on the consequences for your actions, than you may think there are none.

Can we be honest with each other and just let somebody know when their behavior crossed the line. How about if we have the conversations instead of trying so hard that we don’t say anything meaningful anymore.

PDA

I was listening to a radio show, one of those where people call in. The topic was Public Displays of Affection or PDAs. I was very confused by the comments people made. I understand that the US culture is a little uptight, but I was surprised to hear what these young people had to say.

First they talked about, who is guilty of PDAs, like who dares to do that. But then people called, and said that it was horrible that people would display their feeling in public.

Of course, like a good alien, I don’t agree. When I see people holding hands, specially older folks, I think it is sweet. I know I am a female and that might be a female thing. Well some of the girls calling the show said it was “gross” to see people holding hands. I would understand if it was making out or other things but hugging, holding hands was GROSS?!?!?!

Most of the callers agreed that it was disgusting and that when they were in public with their partners they would act as if they did not know each other. WHY? that is my question. Can somebody out there explain to me why.

I agree that some people go overboard and I do not agree with making out, too much touching, groping. But I love to hold my hubby’s hand, hug my friends…I am a repeat offender.

Is it disgusting? Is it okay? let me know.

Great example from Dearborn Michigan

The people of Dearborn, MI gave us a great example of unity and how we can all coexist, live together in harmony. A certain pastor wanted to come and protest in front of the Islamic Center of America. This “Pastor” that likes to incite hate is no different from any other religious radical that believes that only his/her point of view is valid and everybody else is wrong. He burnt the holy book of the Muslim faith and incited protests against the US…irresposible.

Turns out that the people of Dearborn, well not just Dearborn, people came from all over the state and the country; people form all different religions, Christians, Muslims and Jewish, joined arm and arm to support their brothers and sisters. This makes me proud of my fellow humans.

 

Click on the picture for more

One of the speakers said it best, we stand here not as Jewish, Muslims or Christians, we stand here as Americans!!!

Support the DREAM ACT

I have shared my views on the DREAM Act before; I am bringing this up again because it is set to go before the Senate yet again. There are many reasons to support the DREAM act, and I found this article that gives you one more. A little background:

The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a bipartisan bill that would provide a path to legal residence for undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children. The conditions: They must graduate from high school, demonstrate good moral character, and — to keep their legal status — complete at least two years of higher education or at least two years service in the U.S. military.

Without the relief of the DREAM Act, the future of these American-educated young people is bleak.

About 65,000 such eligible students graduate from U.S. high schools each year, but upon graduation, these young people, who include honor roll students, star athletes and junior ROTC members, hit a wall.

Instead of advancing to college or the military and later repaying the investment that taxpayers made in their education, they live in fear of being discovered by the Department of Homeland Security and deported to their “home” country, even if it is a country they cannot remember and where they have no friends, family or support.

…

Potential DREAM Act beneficiaries like David and Cesar are a military recruiter’s dream candidates for enlistment, even if they have no legal status. They are Americanized, having lived in the United States for at least five years, unlike the newly lawful permanent residents whom the military currently enlists.

DREAM Act beneficiaries have no adult period of residence in a foreign country, making it easier to perform background checks for security clearance. They often speak both English and another language fluently. Many have participated in Junior ROTC in high school. They do not have criminal records or other evidence of bad character. They have graduated from a U.S. high school.

…

Instead of wearing our uniforms, these recruits could be recruited to work for foreign governments, foreign militaries and foreign intelligence agencies. At a time when we are focused on protecting our borders and quashing threats to our national security, it seems unwise to export thousands of American-educated and American-acculturated young people to militaries other than our own.

Please read the full article here

What I have learned

I recently quitted my job and I had a weird exit interview. Needless to say, I was my polite self and did not say what was on my mind, partly out of respect for my elders, partly because I knew by experience that whatever I said would not make a difference and because the “boss” could still cause trouble for me (self-preservation)

I was asked by somebody in the company to talk about my “diversity experience”  and this got me thinking of what would I say. So I will share with you, what I did not share with them.

I had to think hard because I felt betrayed when I realized I had been lied, used and manipulated for a long time. For those of you that have read since the beginning  you may know my struggles to understand the racial make up of this country and I happen to end up working in the eye of a racial storm; it felt like that to me. I was overwhelmed and naive.

I can say I learned a lot, I acquired new skills, I learned how to navigate the company and I grew as a person. I had some good times when I thought I belonged and had friends, untill they turned out to be using me as a political/racial pawn.

I learned what it felt to be discriminated against because of  my perceived/assigned race. By my coworkers and the clients we served. I was excluded because I was not of the appropriate race, I constantly hear racially charged comments against Latinos, Asians but the favorite was the evil White people. Many times some of our clients were rude, would not speak to me or reject me all together because they thought I was white.

I learned that racism is not

Citizenship by birth

Citizenship by birth is the new hot topic for the anti-immigration crowd, also the term birth tourism.

Birth tourism is the concept that foreigners come here just for the purpose of having a baby and later on that child could claim the parents to begin the process of residency. This sounds a bit farfetched to me, just because of the expense of coming to the US, paying a steep hospital bill and going back to your country and waiting until the child turns 21 to come back. It is possible, everything is possible, but sound very impractical. What if the kid doesn’t want to come here? or dies before turning 21? or the laws change? And if you can afford all the process why not try to move to the US in the first place… yes the immigration laws, even if you have money, it is not that easy.

I think that this issue of citizenship at birth has come up because of the illegal immigration issue and what people call “anchor babies”.

What does an illegal alien look like?

As I said many times before, I do not agree with illegal immigration, there I said it again. The new law in Arizona it is not well written. I don’t have a problem with police upholding the laws, but this one is vague and creates the opportunity for abuse and racial profiling, here is why.

What does an illegal immigrant look like? Who can tell me? The governor of Arizona could not answer that question when asked. I know that the vast majority of illegals, undocumented come from Mexico and Central America, that doesn’t mean that they are the only ones, or that everybody from those regions are here illegally.

I’ve been watching the news and when the interview white people they say they don’t mind if they are asked to show “their papers” because they can prove they are citizens.  But they do not carry their passport or birth certificate, nobody does. That is how you prove you are a citizen, not just by having a driver’s license, illegals have them too. Only permanent residents carry their permanent resident card also known as green card, by the way it is not green. Once you become a citizen you don’t have that anymore, you have a certificate, which you are not allowed to copy and should not carry with you; you can get a passport, something you don’t normally carry with you to work or to go grocery shopping.

This new law says that police can stop anybody and ask them to prove that they are here legally if the have the ‘suspicion’ that they are here illegally. What would make you suspicious that somebody is here illegally by just looking at them? Do you think they are going to stop a white, all-american looking man or woman? really?

During my time here I have volunteered in many places, even taught English as a second language. I have met people that told me that they came legally but overstayed, meaning they were now illegals, from Russia, Romania, Belgium, I don’t know what happened to them, if they went back or not, but the where all white, most of the blond, they would never get stopped on ‘suspicion’ of being illegal. I met a lady from China that told me stories about large numbers of people coming here illegally from her country. I have heard the same from Africa. But lets face it, it is true that the majority come from south of the border, so anyone that looks like they do is fair game. I belive that is called racial profiling.

What does an illegal alien look like?

It is easy to talk the talk when you don’t have to walk the walk

Don’t you hate it when people that don’t know what they are talking about praise the benefits of communism? You may wonder, what is she talking about? I am talking about an actor by the name Sean Penn.

This is the guy that praises Castro and the represive government of Iran.

This fool, yes you are, appeared on a talk show defending the venezuelan president. He said that people that call him a dictator should be put in jail!?!?!?! He probably doesn’t know that that is just what a dictator would do. It is called Free speech, a democracy gives us the right to say what we please, express our opinion. The thing is that people that oppose the above mentioned “president” are put in jail.

Mr. Penn also said that Venezuela has had the most ‘transparent’ elections in the hemisphere… he is so right, they have all been clear as mud. When a person can lose their job, become unhirable, unable to get a passport, because they are in a black list, they are part of the list of people that did not vote for the president. I think you can call that transparent. It is transparent because people know that they will lose their livelihood if they don’t join and vote for the party and if they don’t wear the red t-shirt and march for the government when asked. He probably doesn’t know that parliametary elections (equivalent to senate and congress) are coming up and

Can we maybe slow down?

I was talking to a friend about some cultural differences between here and my home planet and she though I was being silly when I said that I think we are always in a hurry here, she said why would people slow down and waste time. I started to wonder why are we in such a hurry.

When first moved to the US and would go to a restaurant, I found it so rude that the would bring the check when you are in the middle of your meal. That felt like they were pushing you out the door. Like they were saying “next”. I have gotten used to it and I just try to ignore the bill sitting there, staring at me and pressuring me into leaving.

I invited a friend, that I had not seen in a long time, to meet me for coffee and she asked how long it would take, because she had to pick up her kid from here and taken him there and the other one would be done at such time and he need to go to this other thing. Now I remember why we have not seen each other in such a long time, there is no time.

There is one thing that I try to avoid in our multitasking world, lunch meetings. I hate lunch meetings, to me work and lunch should be separate events, they don’t mix. It doesn’t  help that for me lunch is the biggest meal of the day (another cultural thing) and that I like to take my time and not inhale my meal. When I cannot avoid a lunch meeting, I try no to eat during it. I feel it is better for my digestive process. I have worked with people who talk with their mouth full and perform other unappetizing behaviors during lunch meetings, that might be why I have created such an aversion to them. But still, I like to have my meals sitting down, calmly, in good company, savor and enjoy. Is there something wrong with that? Do you feel that it is time wasted?

I realize I have assimilated a lot to the US culture and I am often times running against the clock, doing seven things a once, and when I finally get home I tend to stop, and slow down. I try to leave the rush outside. But sometimes I find myself running again, cooking meals for a few days at one time, so that I can slow down and enjoy later.

Are you running? tell me what are you running to of from? Can we afford to slow down and enjoy the ride?

What about US?

I have been watching the news and trying to figure out what am I seeing. The news are so biased that they should not be called news. Somebody please tell me what news cast to watch, who is not slanting the news to their side. It is not even subtle, they openly support their side and bad mouth the other.

Then there are the political parties, the senators and the house representatives, I guess all politicians; what are they thinking? I think they all only think what is in it for me.

I was appalled when I saw a senator in the news saying that they were going to oppose the healthcare reform to stick-it to Obama. This just made me think, who cares that we need a reform, who cares about the people of the US, let’s just stick-it to Obama.  If the reform on the table is bad, come up with a new one WORK AT IT, negotiate, come up with options.

What is that?

The polarization has come to a point that I feel that they are not doing anything productive, just bicker, oppose each other.

Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans care about the country, they just care who “wins”.

Can we get rid of all of them and start from scratch?

What about US?