As I talked about in my last post, parties with my extended family usually don’t go well. They either end with me being made fun of, me being ganged up on and then made fun of, or me falling in the mud. Yesterday, all three occurred.
There wasn’t any making fun of my nerdiness, oh no. They had something far more fun to tease at–my being a vegetarian. When my aunt, who’s in the medical field, mind you, heard about me becoming a vegetarian for the health benefits, her only response was, “But, like, eating that healthy food all the time just isn’t good for you!”
She was being completely serious. Later, she harassed me about my tofurkey, being a hippy for animals, and other related topics dealing with being a vegetarian. This, of course, lead to her three children to also harass me. And, you see, I can deal with her. She’s just a 47 year-old with low self-esteem. What I cannot deal with are her children making the same claims toward me. My cousin, who is ten, has it in her mind that I’m the most boring, loser person in the world.
For instance, I sat in an arm chair and read some pages for my psychology class. We ended up having a conversation while I was reading, and I mentioned somewhere along the way that reading was fun when you had a good book. This was immediately labelled as boring and loser-ish activity. Later, when she said that she wanted to watch Twilight, and I told her to read the book before she see a movie based on the book, I was met with a scoff and a reply that I was a loser.
Hey now, I wasn’t the one who said that I wanted to see the new Twilight movie, ma’am.
And my tofurkey and eating the healthier menu options? Of course, an echo of her mother’s statements. Later, when I asked her what her dream job was, and she mirrored the question to me, I told her straight up: I’m working to be a psychologist and do counselling, but I would love to have a Travel Channel show where I go around the world and eat new foods and see cool cultures. She said that was “stupid”. I told her three good reasons why it was not: 1) You get to see the world for free; 2) You get neat new dishes for free; 3) You get to be on television. She tried to challenge my statement: 1) Why would you want to leave America? 2) That food is gross; 3) They probably won’t like you.
Hmm. Why would I want to leave American? Because I want to experience the rest of the world, see what it has to offer, see different ways of life. I want to get out of the suburbs, walk around 400 year-old streets, and meet people with completely different world views so that I can not only better myself culturally, but also understand the world around me. Yes, not all food tastes good, but I tend to think that most of it does. I’m not a picky eater like her (unless you count the whole meat aspect, now). And, the last one was her failed attempt to get three. People won’t like you. Well, for starters, not everyone likes me. I fully acknowledge that, and it does not bother me (it bothers her). But, because I am an open minded person and because I make a solid attempt to understand other cultures, I’m pretty sure that most people would like me. Besides, I’d even use the language when shopping or ordering food. And, let me tell you, that made my trip to Germany so much easier.
I won the conversation, but she didn’t know it. Nobody around did. to them, their still closed mind means that they won. To me, remaining open minded meant that I won. Everything is a matter of perspective, I know. It’s just that I’m thinking mine is right for the time being.
It simply infuriates me, though, that there are people like them who, if you don’t fit into their perfect, suburban, television drained world, then you are a loser. It’s even more infuriating when the girl who calls you a loser, is actually the loser. She hasn’t any friends. She hasn’t any other hobbies than sitting in front of a television. She just shoves her void of self onto other people, too, claiming that they are incorrect. Don’t push your lack of self-esteem on me; it won’t work. I’m smarter than that. I’m more successful than that.
And, of course, the day ended with slipping in the mud and practically destroying ever piece of clothing that I was wearing. I borrowed some of my grandmother’s clothes (whaddup Missi in thirty years?) and immediately drove home to wash the cakes of mud off both my clothes and myself.
But, I know that I shouldn’t complain about Thanksgiving, that was just a well needed rant. Otherwise, things went well. I got to see some family that I hadn’t seen in a while, was able to talk with my grandparents, and I was even able to read a few pages of psychology (though I’m still terribly behind). That’s how it went, though. I’ll tell you if anything changes for Christmas.
Missi(world) 