Here it is, Friday, and I’m finishing up a job. At least, finishing it for the week. After a contentious lunch, wherein the conversation at the table included someone saying that he wasn’t watching football anymore over the National Anthem debate (I’m keeping my mouth shut). He’s giving up drinking Pepsi, because they haven’t pulled sponsorship of the NFL (I’m keeping my mouth shut).
Now it’s the end of the day, I’ve got a date I’m excited to get to later that night, and it’s all going well. Then he brings up welfare, and people not wanting to work taking tax payer money (dammit, I am keeping my mouth shut!). And finally, immigration.
“Don’t you think that we should keep the immigrants out?”
Well, shit. I’ve tried keeping my mouth shut, but now you’re asking me a direct question.
“No, actually. My grandparents were first generation Americans, and I think the backbone of the American system is immigration.”
“My ancestors were immigrants, too,” he says. “But I’m not talking about those.”
“Oh, you mean the Mexicans and the Muslims.”
This conversation goes on for a little while, back and forth, about whether welfare recipients are deserving, about legal vs. illegal immigration.
There is a cultural bias in this country, and it’s fragmenting how we view what’s happening around us, and around the world. This conversation was merely another example.
Michael's Musings 