Making the Call

Judgement: an opinion formed by judging something

An opinion. So that means its not a fact, right? Right. So why does everyone, including myself (lets be honest), think its ok to judge people? We all do it, and you know it. A girl walks by you in the mall wearing leggings, uggs, and a tshirt..so you think "she looks like she just got out of bed" or "how could she wear something like that?!" Admit it, you've had these thoughts. Especially if you go somewhere where you can "people watch". What does people watching really entail? Judging. You watch to see how people carry themselves, what they wear, how they talk, etc and you ponder about their life based on what you see. My sisters and I are guilty of just this, we sometimes sit and watch people and create stories for them and pretend to know what they are saying. Yes, it's fun if you're bored sometimes, but what do the people think when they look up to see a table of girls staring at them?
But think about judgement on a deeper level for a minute. In my education class this semester, we are dealing with diversity. Cultural, appearance, religion, morals, family life, etc. The list really could go on, because we are all so different. But should we be treated differently? Now, I wish I had spoken up in class, but little shy me sat in my swivel chair swinging back and forth. But now I would like to speak up, and who knows..maybe my education teacher will read this and give me some extra credit. Wishful thinking..

Yes, having the instructions to put a chair together in Spanish before English is a little unnecessary, but if you think about it, it's not crazy. We are the melting pot, aren't we? Isn't that what we are taught in school, to accept everyone? Well, not so much. Because there are people out there (un-named in my blog, of course) that believe that when you get instructions, call 411, information, etc that it should only be in English. But, what about the people that move over here to start over and make a new life? Do we expect them to learn another language completely and forget where they came from? I don't think that is right. If you travel to France for vacation, I realize you get strange stares for not understanding or speaking French, but they don't expect you to know everything (once they realize you're newbies, of course). All I am saying is that I think we should cut people a break. I personally like listening to the Spanish options..I feel like I am learning something while I wait :)
Another hot topic is multicultural education in schools. I am for it. I think it is so unfair that we only focus on African Americans during Black History Month, for example. Why can't we include racial and cultural differences in class everyday? I know that I want my kids, and hopefully future students to learn about and how to except everyone. Now I know that is some serious wishful thinking, but I am wishful. I want people to look past color and accent and just love.
My statistics teacher has a pretty heavy Turkish accent and it is extremely hard to understand her and every now and then you can hear an occassional snicker or sigh because you can't understand what she is saying. Now, I am guilty of a sigh or too, because it is hard to learn when you can't understand, but is this disrespect fair to our teacher? No. She didn't do this on purpose. She has an accent because that is where she is from. She should be proud of it and own it.
I am so tired of hearing people talk about mixed couples, babies, etc. Who cares? Is it hurting anyone? NO, so get over it.
My lovely, amazing, talented education teacher (Mrs. Brookins, are you reading this?!) told us a story the other day about two little black girls invited their white friend to a party. The part of the conversation that Mrs. Brookins heard is as follows, "Are you coming to our party?" "No, I can't because my mom said I can't hang out with little black girls." I mean COME ON people. This is 2010. I seriously cannot believe that is still an issue today, when I feel like it shouldn't even be in the back of our minds. Granted, I come from a very accepting family that would love you no matter what you are and what you look like, I just only wish everyone could be understanding and accepting.

Well, there you have it. My take on differences. I try every day to love and accept you for your insides, disregarding everything else.