Its the Little Things

I am realizing more and more, that it's the little things that mean the most and sadly, its also the little things that hurt us the most. We, as humans, have the power to bring others "up" and the power to bring others down with our words and actions. And, just as many of us out there, I have found myself guilty of both. I having been thinking about this alot since yesterday, primarily because of the experience I had on my way home from work.
After I had made the hour drive home from Beverly Hills (where I work), I made my way up the hill from the only available place to park at 7:30PM in my neighborhood, the Hospital. I came to the corner of Valencia and 6th, which is near Maggie's Donuts, and waited for the light to change so I could cross the street. I turned around and noticed that a husband and wife of Latino decent were standing behind me. This is not surprising being that 85% of my neighborhood is Latino. I smiled and nodded my head at both of them and turned back around positioning myself to walk across the street. The man acknowledged my smile, but the woman merely looked at me. After about thirty seconds, the man looked at me and asked, "Do you speak Spanish?". I responded with, "Pocito, pero estoy aprendiendo." Which means, " A little, but I am learning." He responded by saying, "Oh, I was going to ask you, are you lost?" Which is a common theme, I am finding. Just in case you might be wondering, there are not very many white people who live in my area. So, it is odd to many in my neighborhood that I actually live there. I smiled and said, "Oh no, I live around here". And he said, "No, only ugly people live around here". I replied, "Oh no, I know many beautiful people that live here." And as we began to part ways he responded by saying, "Thank you".

I can't, for some reason, get his words out of my thoughts. And the interesting thing is that the part that keeps coming back to me, is not the part where he said that only ugly people lived here, but it was the part where he said thank you because I didn't. The questions that continue to resignate in my head are, How many times has he been told or heard that his race is "ugly" or that his people were not good people? How many times has it been told, to the point that he appreciates when one person says differently?

We are all humans, living in the world, all trying to make a better life for our families. We have different heritages, different dreams, but we all want the same thing: to be loved for who we are....
Why must we hurt those in our path because we don't understand them? Why don't we make enough time to understand them? And why can't we focus on the one thing that we do know, that that person in your path...wants mainly to be loved?