My car's backseat is usually reserved for my niece goddaughters. NinaCarmen drives them to school, drives them to their activities like soccer and volleyball, and they are usually happy to go wherever Nina goes.
Just because I have youngsters in my car doesn't necessarily mean that I am a quiet driver, folks get in my way and one is likely to hear, 'que vas a hacer pendejo?' or 'muevete!' or 'get OUT of the way'. The other drivers don't really hear me, but these lil girls DO. Needless to say, I do get embarassed because it's not a good example to set.
These girls usually say things to me like 'Nina!' which usually doesn't stop me from going off. On this particular day, however, I say "I'm sorry mamitas" to which one of them responds, "Nina, you're like a mexican Karen". Whaaaat? QueQUE? My mouth was hanging open and all I could do was smile -- I don't know if I was offended or if the truth rendered me silent.
What does Karen mean? Karen is a pejorative slang term for an obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white woman who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people's behaviors.
Well the name is kind of close to Carmen, and if I took each word apart of this definition, I would likely find some situations where I had been obnoxious, angry, entitled, I don't consider myself racist and I have decided to stop counting numbers where age is concerned. Have I used privilege to get my way or to police other people's behavior? Sometimes or Unlikely. Depends on the situation.
However, in the interest of giving my goddaughters a better example on dealing with situations, I will work at changing out these words and acting accordingly:
obnoxious to pleasant
angry to happy
entitled to gratitude
racist to not a racist
privilege to disadvantage, I prefer humble
I will watch it, or should I say, watch my words.
Watch your words, the young ones in your life do listen and hang on to your every word, good or bad.
#52EssaysNextWave 2/52 #52SlicesOfChingonaLife #NinaLife
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