Respect

My mother told me a story today that deeply upset me. A priest went up to a Mexican guest worker on Mackinac Island and asked how he was doing. The worker said he wasn't doing well. He was sad because people walked by him and were laughing at him. The worker cleans up the horse manure on the island, and it seems as if people laugh at him because what they think he's doing is not important, or silly. The man works very hard to send money home to his family in Mexico. What is funny about that?

I get so angry when I see people making fun of guest workers. They take jobs that a lot of Americans don't want. Hard, manual labor jobs. They send the money home to their families. Most are just good people that want to make better lives for themselves. Isn't America the land of opportunity? We should be thanking these workers instead of shunning or laughing at them.

I also see it here when people see Americans that they think are "below" them. No one should categorize others by their income. Often these "low-level" jobs are the most difficult. I have deep respect for these people and so should the rest of the world. Before you judge them, walk a mile in their shoes.