Music: Straight From the Heart-Bryan Adams
The other day I met someone who told me they wouldn't date an Asian person. Apparently, we are two different species. So, I asked him, just out of curiosity.
Me: Why?
Person: Your culture is too different from mine.
Me: My culture involves respecting your elders and honoring your family. I guess yours must be disrespecting your elders and dishonoring your family.
Person: No, that's not it. I mean...you guys aren't Christian.
Me: I'm Catholic.
Person: Well, I mean there are things you do that's different.
Me: Like what?
Person: (long pause) We're just too different.
I'm used to this though. I'm Vietnam-born, but was American-raised in communities where the dominant race is caucasian. So the caucasians kept their distance from me and the other (rare) Asians call me "white washed" or "twinkie." When I went back to Vietnam to visit, I was "too American" and when I was in Japan, they called me "trash" because I was born in a poor third world country. When I broke up with an (caucasian) ex-boyfriend for cheating on me, he called me a "gook" and a "viet cong."
Luckily, there are those people who don't care skin color. They care about ethnic background only because they find it fascinating and want to learn more about it. Those people see me as a human being and treat me as such, so thank you to all my friends.
