A Couple Short Stories
Sally was playing in the garden, licking a melting popsicle when she dropped it into the dirt. She frowned, picked it up, and popped it back in her mouth – dirt and all. Her mother turned, hands in dirty gardening gloves, and screamed.
“How dare you! Spit that out right now! You’re going to get sick – you don’t know how many germs were on that. Oh, disgusting Sally, how could you? Let’s go inside right now and rinse your mouth out. Then you have to take some aspirin.”
Sally looked at her mother. Then she looked at the popsicle stick. “Mom? It was just a little dirt. I didn’t see any worms or bugs on it,” Sally hated taking medicine, but her mother forced her to anytime she thought Sally would get sick. Her mother stood up, brushed off her knees, and grabbed Sally’s wrist. She dragged her inside and shoved her in the bathroom while she searched through the medicine cabinet. Sally turned on the water, sighing exasperatedly – her mother was so paranoid. Sally cupped her hands, catching a handful of water. She put in her mouth, swishing the cold liquid around. Her mother came over and handed her two aspirin.
“Perhaps I should take you to the doctor, sweetie, you’re already feeling feverish.”
“Mother! I’m fine. Stop babying me. I feel warm because I was out in the sun. I’m not taking the aspirin. I’m sorry I worried you, but you’re watching too much TV. If you don’t let me get sick, I’ll never build an immunity system – then where would I be? Just stop worrying. I appreciate it, but you’re just making matters worse.”
Her mother paused, listening to her daughter’s words for the first time. She smiled slightly and said, “Okay, just this last time though? Please?”
“No, mother. You’ll just try that line every time. I’ll take medicine when I think I need it.”
How many times do you turn on the TV and see prescription medicines, weight loss pills, or sleeping pills? America’s immune system is failing because we’re so paranoid about getting sick, we rely on medicine to cure ourselves. The mother in the story was America, the little girl was other countries. Other countries look at America and think we’re overprotective of our bodies. We no longer rely on natural ways to heal ourselves.
TV shouldn’t produce so many commercials that solve problems with just a simple pill. It becomes unhealthy for our bodies. We take vitamins instead of eating fruits and vegetables. It will be hard for children of younger ages to stand up to their parents who force medicine down their throats, they might not even know better. So American parents need to stop worrying so much.
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Ryan walked into the room for her interview, in front of her stood a handsome male. He held out his hand for her to shake, but his eyes weren’t smiling with his lips. In fact, his mouth looked like it was in a tight, forced smile. Ryan shook his hand, smoothed her skirt, and sat down.
“By your name I was expecting a man,” the man in front of her said. Ryan’s mind blanked – interviewers weren’t allowed to discriminate against sex. She closed her eyes briefly, controlling her temper, and smiled.
“I get that a lot,” she managed.
“I see. You’re also black. I didn’t realize – you didn’t relay that information in your application,” he stated with venom in his voice. What was this guy’s problem? A sexist and a racist? And this was her future boss? Ryan squirmed her seat. She was angry now.
“No, I didn’t because I didn’t want to be discriminated against before I got a chance.”
“Well, we have no use for you, thanks anyway. Good day.” The man turned his back on her after his dismissal. Ryan balked – who did he think he was? She stood up abruptly, jerkily grabbed her purse, and slammed the door behind her. Fuming, she went to file a complaint.
Discrimination against women and blacks is claimed to be cured, a problem of the past. However, it is still an issue – it’s just more subtle and quiet. The majority of high-class job positions are held by men. The majority of political members are white men. Women and minorities are making headway, but slowly. It is illegal to discriminate in an interview, and Ryan had a right to file a complaint.
How to solve it? That’s a tough question. Filing complaints will help legally, but it’s more difficult to convince a person to change their views. Raising children in a multiracial neighborhood will help prevent racism as they grow older. Integrating schools also help a lot. Perhaps though, the biggest thing Americans can do to help lessen this modern problem is educate themselves of other cultures. Maybe offer a class in school that informs students of other cultural lifestyles.
