Bravo.

My dad is 76 years old and is deeply southern- raised in the hills of Tennessee. He is also a very bright and considerate man. His best friend of the last 45 years or so is a man named Manny Pacheco. Manny is a “true-blue and proud to be” Mexican American having been raised in Estancia New Mexico by first generation immigrant parents. In Manny’s eyes, Dad is one of the few truly good Anglos he has known and Dad is generally suspicious of Hispanic culture in New Mexico but counts Manny and several other “good Mexicans” as his friends. He would do anything in the world for them and knows that they would for him as well. If confronted on his bigotry he will tell you clearly that to not notice that Manny is Mexican is to deny one of the basic facts that defines Manny. He is what he is. He will also tell you that if you don’t notice that underneath the veneer of civilization he himself wears in the business world that he is a good old hillbilly you will be ignoring his basic nature as well. These are the foundations of who they are.

He would also tell you that where you live and what you do and how you were educated and how you dress all affect who you are and how the world perceives you. Good, bad, or indifferent, a book is in fact judged by its cover and the author’s past writing may give good clues to his future writing as well.

We are what we are and the challenge is to see past our basic assumptions when we can and get to know the people we meet for who they are. We don’t need to (in fact should not) expect to remove our differences from our perception- diversity (in the true sense of the word) is what gives us strength as a people.

These two men respect and admire one another on many levels but make no attempt to redefine themselves or anyone else to make the world more comfortable. Their friendship is true. Manny loves Dad and Dad loves Manny. It is without the condition that they come from or exist in the same places or with the same ideals or goals.

They are who they are.

America is greatest when we embrace our differences rather than when we pretend they are not there. Americans are most honest when they can freely admit that they find some aspects of one another uncomfortable, unusual, or unsettling and work together- not to necessarily agree or endorse but perhaps just to accept.

We are who we are and we are not all the same.