What makes us the way we are?

I wrote this before I started the blog and decided to add it.

And so anyway…what makes us the way we are? Why do we need to feel more important than other people based on where we were born or the language we speak? What makes us believe that our culture is the best or that our heritage is stronger or purer or prouder than that of another ethnic group?

I am in love with my students. Every one of them has skin that is much browner than mine. Most of them have beautiful liquid-y brown eyes and shining black hair. They speak Spanish better than I ever will. They are in class all day every day with other kids who have no difficulty understanding every word that is said, because they have heard nothing but the English language since before they were born.

In an unbelievably short time, they too will be able to communicate in English well enough to work, shop, travel, and interact with most native speakers. It will take much longer, years longer, for them to develop a broad academic vocabulary, and in fact some of them never will. But they are at school every day, smiling. They smile at their teachers and their fellow students. They smile at me while we talk, sing, read, and write in English. They run to meet me, throw their arms around me and hug me. Their eyes sparkle with every new letter, number, or word they learn. They are there every day because their parents, and by osmosis they, understand what a profound privilege it is to be educated.