one of those 'something happened today ' posts..

(I really am a waitress on the weekends on the offchance anyone is following the 'saturday night' threads,but I also own a small vending company..wanted to add this so no one would think I was a 'poser'..lol)

Anyway,today I was doing the vending thing,and I have this factory where all of the workers are Mexican. There's a real language barrier,so I always say 'hi' when i go in,and 'thanks' when I leave,but for the most part they pretty much ignore me and I do my thing and leave.

Today though,a very young mexican guy came up to me while I was filling the machines,and he stood there for a minute like he wanted to say something. I figured one of the machines had ripped him off,so I said,"Hi,how ya doing,do i owe you money?"but he just stood there for a minute,and then,in the most quiet,dignified,diplomatic way I've ever seen,he proceeded to try his best to enlighten me about how there are many things more important then materialistic things,and that americans were doing great harm to the world because they didn't understand that. You had to have been there,but the boy was doing his best to save the world,and somehow,he seemed to think if he could show me the light,it would matter.

I tried to tell him I agreed with him,but that just seemed to confuse him,and it occurred to me later that maybe the differences between big business and small business and the opposing ideologies of americans were nuances that he didn't fully grasp yet,and it also occurred to me that maybe I was so seeped in american culture that I really didn't get what he was saying.

What did register with me though,in a very big way,was that he was gravely concerned for the future of the world,and in his own very noble way,one american at a time,he was trying to fix it. I can't tell you what it was,but it was the sweetest,saddest thing I've experienced in a very long time. We've got to fix this...cause I promised the mexican boy we would.

I HOPE you have some way to encourage this kid! That must have taken a huge amount of courage for him to do that, and you have GOT to respect him for it!

Laura

when i canvassed Saturday I was in a hispanic neigborhood and I heard much the same there.

Thanks for sharing that.:)
If it happens again, something along the lines of "No soy republicano, yo entiendo todo...y gracias, mi amigo!" oughta do it.
A real Spanish speaker could do it better, but that should get you where you want to go, I hope.

but I'll try it! Thanks:)

It means "I'm not a republican, I understand it all...and thank you, my friend." :)

but I'm getting just a tad bit tired of having to always apologize for being an American and I'm getting tired of always hearing about how horrible foreigners think Americans are and how horrible everything is because of us, etc., etc.

Maybe he should have been talking to all the thousands of his countrymen who risk everything, including their lives, to cross the border and enter this country seeking a better life.

or a clue for a bit of introspection?

perhaps it will pass.
dp

and I don't doubt you have a point,but I don't think it applied at that particular moment in time. I think he was looking out for the world. :)

truly!

thank you for asking. :) Last saturday two more people came(they actually came for the free 'after hours' bar drinks,but once there,they were trapped..lol) One of the waitresses asked,"what are we going to talk about tonight?" and somebody else said "Gas prices!!",so that's where we went. I was a little out of my league cause the consensus there was that there was plenty of oil,and it was just an oil company scam. I went with the 'the oil that is easily accessible is not as plentiful as you think it is,and Chinas growing economy requires a bigger share of the resources then they used to have" argument,and hoped that I was being reasonably factual. One thing led to another and I got to delve into the 'if wealth is a zero-sum.." thing,and I think maybe changed a few minds about the benefits of the tax cuts.

There was a definite republican there this time,but she was confused..lol. Her husbands company had huge layoffs,and he had not gotten a raise,and somehow,for reasons I never ever figured out..that was the reason she was going to vote for Bush! So...go figure..I've obviously got a little work left to do! The good news is,the rest of them were as confused by her 'logic' as I was. I'll work on her next week. :)