culturally diverse

so, i've always known valley is a ghetto place. but actually? it's not. because ghetto implies one dominant ethnic group, and valley, is like...Ellis Island. i have many friends here that are first generation immigrants, and for at least half of them, english is a second or third language. but it's good, because meeting, hearing, and understanding these various cultures has helped to destroy some of my prejudices, stem racism, and even shown me i love aspects of many of the cultures i formerly held in disdain.

examples.

when i first came to valley, i was a young thing of but fifteen or fourteen. and i was pretty much openly disdainful of the average "lazy" hispanic citizen, or as i would generalize them, "illegal". but as quickly as i realized i was turning racist, i quelled the feelings by gaining understanding. having my eyes opened from personal relationships with individual hispanics and mostly from just observing them, on the streets of LA, in their houses, and at LAVC. i recognized and admired a key characteristic of their society that ours rather lacks, in my opinion, and that is the focus on family. hispanics really seem to care about the home, respecting elders, and loving siblings, etc. it's heartwarming. *deleted possibly offensive statement*

but valley didn't contribute to that revelation as much as just, L.A. in general.

today, however, my eyes were opened to yet another side of some situation i've only been able to apprise from one angle. and that is sept. 11, from the point of view of an arab in pennsylvania.

in my chemistry class, one of my many interesting classmates is an older arab guy named abbra. and he got to talking to me a long time after class one morning. it started, i think, as where he's headed in life, but that required a lot of fascinating back story, beginning with him attending duke university for pharmacy school when the hijacked plane was crashed there. people close to the attacks were much more emotionally rattled and enraged to the point of action. so much so that, seven indian guys were murdered in his area, the attackers mistaking their head wraps as indications they were muslim, and therefore terrorists.

abbra fled pennsylvania for southern california, where all we see are images on tv, and cultural diversity is much more accepted as a general rule anyways. he had no finished education yet, but he spoke fluent arabic, so the united states military hired him, for a very decent sum, to be a requisitor? i think it's called? he worked in Baghdad during the two years of War on Terror and had very high up authority security card (he showed me) and at one point, a yellow ambassador-group badge, there were only six or seven of those. his job was to get whatever items the army couldn't succeed in getting themselves. he made the necessary phone calls and got that item. whatever anyone wanted. and he had two weeks paid vacation every three months to anywhere in the world. they all did. those people working in what was called the 'green zone' (very secure headquarters area). it was the military's recompense for the stress of being potentially bombed/killed every day.

so in the process of earning lots of money and cool experience, he traveled the world for free. told me about amsterdam in particular.

but then the war ended and he came back to california, still unable to get a job. so he went to valley college for a year and a half, and then transferred to CSUN and got his BA in psychology in three years. but he still couldn't get a job. so he's back at valley now, for his final 36 units, before he can transfer back to Duke Uni. and get his doctor's pharmacist certificate, which will, he promises, secure him a well-paying position at any pharmacy as soon as he graduates.

anyways, neat guy. and he opened my eyes a bit to a whole new life that's being lived by many people.

whoever said fear is the cause of hate was so right. the unknow scares us and therefore we automatically dislike it. educate yourself, and i'm not talking books. travel. talk to people, the real people from the real situations and places, and that, is a true education that will help shape your worldview.

i have a musician friend, no older than myself, who just, just came here on a green card from switzerland. another friend, anniate, who is armenian and still has a long ways to go on her english and comprehension. at one point i was walking to the book store and had both of these lovely ladies talking to me at once, on either side, in their respective accents and broken english. it was awesome. foreigners are so bold! they'll interrupt, get in your personal space, follow you around, impose. ah, life is good! people are wonderful, and God is Awesome.