Translation for 140 languages by ALS
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowline.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail.
Explore. Dream. Discover
.
---Mark Twain

7/2/13

Go back to your country!

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This is old hat but I share it because it is one of the principals of this web log: to relay persistent, 'every day' racism that occurs to me (especially in places where racism doesn't exist).

I boarded a city bus in Guadalajara and waited for my change.
"What change?" the driver wondered.
I thought I gave him $7 pesos. The fare is six.
"No, you gave me six pesos," he said with a touch of attitude.
Did I? Maybe I did.
"Oh okay. Fine," I said. "It was a mistake -- an honest mistake."
He was an old man and I wanted to punch him in his cigarette wrinkled face.
As I made my way to a seat he had the gall to quip, "Vas a tu pais!"
Go back to your country!
And which country would that be?
It kills me when Mexicans let this fly as easy as their phony "amigo" salutation.
Especially when they are the ones constantly jumping the border into a foreign country to give birth and to attain a "better life" and a "real chance to make a living." 

Vas a tu pais! And which country would that be? America? Canada? Jamaica? Indonesia? Or, like many Mexicans honestly assume, Africa? (Yes, I know Africa is a continent but let's not miss the forest for the trees here.)
I kept the inconsequential ticket from the ride and, upon returning to the hostel, called the customer service number listed to report what that old bastard told me. The ticket has the number of the bus route and driver on it so, hopefully, he got called into the office when he returned to the garage. I doubt anything in the form of punishment is possible but maybe now he'll think (twice) before opening his big arrogant, ignorant mouth next time.

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