Good, Now you look like an American

Picture from Flickr.com

Recently at work one of my co-workers was talking to a young man from Vietnam. My coworker was at awe with the young man's square sandals. The young man went on to explain that the sandals were a new fashion in Vietnam and that they could be bought in NYC. My co-worker complemented the young man on his shirt, loose denim jeans, his close cut haircut and his good English and went on to say, " Good, now you look like an American"

The young man and myself looked at my co-worker with a puzzle look in our faces. This comment lingered in my mind for the next few days. What does an American look like? Blond hair, blue eyes? Dark skin? Brown skin? No accent? A heavy accent? I am still trying to figure it out.

Comments like this reminds me that we as a nation, we still have a long way to treat each other with kindness and respect and that Doctor Martin Luther King's dream of not being judge by the color of your skin, but as an individual, is still not achieved.

I particularly could care two hoots as to who does not like me. I treat others as I like to be treated. I do not live my life thinking, "Oh my God I am a Minority "!! ( God do I hate that word !!) I see people as what they are, God's precious creation.

I leave you with this passage from the declaration of independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,..."

Have a happy fourth of July.