Leamon+reading+response+3

I really enjoyed reading this section of //My Freshman Year//. I totally agree with the way she said that people who feel like outsiders are more likely to become friends with other people who feel the same. Reading the part about how people don’t really want to know about other countries really got me thinking. Last Friday at the library, a boy came up to me and started talking to me. He had told me that he had just come from China a month ago and he was self-conscious about his English. I told him that for only a month his English was great and not be upset because it’s a hard language. I didn’t mind talking to him but I felt a little weird because I had to ask him to keep repeating himself. Also, most people don’t just come up to you and start talking about your lives. This ties into how Americans are very superficial. I never realized it until I read this section. When anyone asks how I’m doing I always so good, unless it is a close friends, because I don’t like they would really want to hear my story. We are always saying hi and bye and thank you to each other but no one really cares about a random person we see on the street.

I read Chapter one of //A Mind at Work//. I related to this section because my mom was a waitress. Also, at my old job I wasn’t a waitress but I took orders and I have worked in a kitchen before so I know that these jobs take a lot more effort than it may seem. I also remember how tired my mom was when she came home from work. It is physically exhausting and most people don’t realize how much thought goes into these jobs. //A Mind at Work// talks about how the costumer-waitress relationship would be affected if there wasn’t a tip involved? This relates back to the superficial parts of America because if there was no money involved you probably wouldn’t talk about your kids or your life with the customers.

I think what both of these sections are showing is that Americans seem to not care about other races or “lower professions”. This is not all Americans because some are very accepting and considerate. But others don’t care if they are not involved. The kids at college don’t care about the lives of people from another country. I wasn’t even surprised that people can’t find Iraq on a map because I couldn’t tell you where it is. I feel as though I would like to be more educated about the world but there are so many things going on here. This goes along with waitressing too. Some people are very rude to their waitress or leave them a lousy tip. This just shows how we as a people are able to forget that others are people to and that we aren’t as different as it may seem.