I was inspired by Patton Oswalt. When I heard his joke years ago, the one that's at the beginning of the video below, he succinctly expressed what I experienced multiple times as a kid. Oh yeah, and it's hilarious.
As a parent, or just an adult in general, you don't want to lose your moral authority and respect that a child has for you. Don't pass on your bigotry and fears onto the next generation. In fact if you're a racist, just don't have children. Get sterilized today! And if you have outdated prejudices towards people of a different skin color, religion, sexuality, gender, weight, height, and attractiveness, keep those legs closed and take some anti-Viagra...I realize there is no anti-boner pill, so I'll start working on that for ya.
My family members, that were born in China, are xenophobic to the point of being bigoted towards people who are not from the same city they are from. I immigrated to The U.S. with my parents in the summer of '83. Y'all know the story if you've read my previous blog. Shortly after starting 1st grade that fall, my aunt, who had been living in Raleigh, NC since the 70's, gave me some advice. She told me to make friends only with other Chinese kids. A moment later she added white people were ok to friend but definitely not blacks. The rest of my family agreed with her statements. Well, there was a problem you see. I was the only Chinese, and Asian, in 1st grade. The few kids that verbally teased and abused me were white. The black kids in 1st grade were some of the nicest kids in the school. So yeah, I stopped listening to my aunt after that. I tuned out all her brainwashing lectures. I just sat quietly, nodded occasionally, and waited for it to be over. Any lessons of morality, even if just, I wasn't going to learn from her or the rest of my family. I had to build my own moral code from scratch. During 2nd grade, my cousin George became a fundamentalist Christian. He argued with me - a 20 something vs an 8 year old - about the existence of dinosaurs and try to convince me "naked" was 1 syllable. I couldn't stand being evangelized to, especially because of all of the contradictions to science(and later finding out all the hypocrisies)...and I fucking love science. I was and still am wary of all authoritative constructs.
I want to end on a happier note. Show your kids love that they can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch as much as possible. A tangible expression to them means so much. Spending time with them is worth the extra bit of tired you feel.
I. Love this post!
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