Why?
Because asking a question will require an answer. Maybe that white guy in his early 60s meant something nice, but holy CRAP, he phrased it wrong, wrong, wrong. Asking the simple question "Why?" allows someone to redeem himself/herself and vice versa, allows someone to see how rude they might have come across.
End of story.
X and I have seen a lot of subtle racism over our years together. Folks. This is nothing, let me tell you. These are days when I love and adore my family to teensy-weensy bits because I have never felt it once from them. Not. Once. Ever. But my friends? That is another story. I will never get into that but trust me on this. When a friend does not approve of my "mixed" marriage, I know. I know.
And this is not why I am surprised that McCain is all of a sudden neck n' neck with Obama in the polls. *sigh*
Oh. Speaking of which. I am SO weary of folks bashing McCain for his marriage to Cindy by insinuating something raunchy happened in a bar. I have it on good authority from a family member who was also Military and lived in McCain's neighborhood that he is not the cheating scoundrel the leftist media is trying to depict. Still voting for Obama, but just sayin'.
Okay? On to lighter topics now?
So. I am going to do it. Um. Halloween? Just around the corner. And yes, I am already obsessing over it and resisting whipping out the plastic at every chance. And oh my, OH MY - when Costco is selling a HUGE spider, it is difficult to resist when BOTH children are wildly gesturing towards it with excitement.
I resisted the giant spider, but could not resist this:
Arun found this at Border's the other day and how could I say no? This is such a lovely book with really fun illustrations that are spooky but are not necessarily scary or gruesome. Bonus? It is written in very same cadence as "Goodnight, Moon" which means that it crosses a few other literary genres. However, I will probably designate it as a Fall/Halloween book to keep it super special. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Fun stuff. Halloween is my very favorite holiday. Look for more posts about it around here.
10 comments:
Tyler is in LOVE with Goodnight Moom, will have to pick this one up. Also, my big girls want to buy that spider as well but the resident arachnophobe (sp?) in our house refuses to budge.
I will never ever understand racism in any form - it baffles me to no end.
I'm totally buying that book. It looks awesome and NikkiZ still makes me read one of the Halloween books from last year EVERY DAY almost.
"Why" sounds like the perfect response to those types of comments. I'll have to remember that. I haven't gotten any myself, maybe because I know so many people who are in interracial marriages. But who know what will happen once our kid arrives.
I hope I don't derail the thread, but McCain has admitted to having affairs while married to his first wife. And he married Cindy pretty quickly after his divorce was final. That is not a reason to NOT vote for him though. There are plenty of other relevent reasons not to vote for him.
Olivia,
re: my comments on McCain - I should have worded all that better. True, he probably was a cheating scoundrel. But there is some reason to believe that his 1st wife was no saint herself.
Ugh. Racism makes me sick.
"Why" seems like a good, Miss Manners way to put jerks like that on the spot.
I did a post yesterday that was sort of inspired by yours, and links to your blog:
http://metrolandmiscellany.blogspot.com/2008/09/responding-to-ignorance.html
I'll have to remember the "why" response. My brother-in-law is Chinese. My sister-in-law not so much. My two nephews are a beautiful combination of the two but still very much Asian. My son on the other hand is as white as a boy can be. I love that our family is such a blend and we don't all look alike but I'm sure others will not see it as a blessing.
Cagey: that makes sense. All I've heard about his 1st wife was that she dutifully waited for him while he was a POW, she had a terrible car accident and he left her. We really have no idea what really happened in their marriage.
"Why?" is a really nice way to put people in their place. You're setting a good example for Arun and Anjali. Soon they'll be old enough to hear and understand these types of remarks for themselves and your attitude of not taking it but being polite is probably the best thing they could see.
OTOH, the fact that at some point they will "understand" those remarks is a little sad :(.
All,
I also like the "Why?" because it gives the person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the guy was actually trying to be nice. I get comments ALL THE TIME about how these kids look like me. However, it was the way the guy phrased it with "It's a blessing...."
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