Say NO to ignorance

Yay for blogging more! Well, I was just thinking about something I mentioned in my last blog...keeping my mind open. Too many people only believe what they see about people and therefore stereotypes are formed. What kinds of Mexicans do we see in the States? Yeah, those little short guys with cowboy hats and huge mustaches doing labor work. We walk by them and try not to make eye contact, afraid of the "illegals." First of all, in NO WAY am I promoting illegal immigration. I'm just trying to get everyone to focus a little more on the person and not their label. The majority of Mexicans that go to the States can't find a suitable job here to pay to feed their families. They go to the States because they can do all the jobs other Americans won't do for half the price. Right now a dollar is worth about 13 pesos, which can go a long way here. So why don't they just sign up for a visa? First of all, getting an American work visa is like trying climb Mount Everest in high heels...almost impossible. You have to be working with a specific company that can prove that they need you to work for them instead of an American. And don't think visas are cheap either. Do you think an average Mexican has $2,000 lying around? A family could live off of that for a good while. Plus paying for transportation to go to a consolate would be ridiculous since you have to go back a thousand times. And government offices are normally open from around 9 am to 1 pm. What normal person has time to take off work in the morning to get papers fixed? And people wonder why Mexicans will swim a river or hide themselves under car seats to get to the Land of the Free. Family to Mexicans is EVERYTHING. They will do whatever it takes so their kids can eat or their mom can go see the doctor. This is the reason I believe we should treat them with a little more respect, because they are humans, not trash that crosses the border.

But if you come to Mexico, you will see men in suits, women driving to the spa in their BMW or Porsche with a chauffer up front. The majority of people I know here have maids in their houses that help out with the cooking, cleaning, and watching kids. So don't be as stupid to think that all of us down here are in our adobe houses eating tortillas and beans, because that is just plain ignorant. Just because a place or people or food is different from what you're used to, that doesn't mean your ways are better. I can think of a pretty long list of things that this third-world country has that is better than the States. The USA will always be my home and always be the best place in the world in my opinion, but I'm glad to have had the opportunity to step outside of my box and see that the world is a big place and filled with a lot of things I don't understand. But that's the beauty of it. We can spend our whole lives exploring and learning new things about new people and places every day. I hope I helped fullfil that a little with this entry.