Week One

            It is common for adults to reflect on significant experiences of their past, especially when a bigger picture becomes apparent to them with time and experience. Countless times have I thought about encounters or simple words exchanged with someone when I was younger, not truly understanding the significance of the event until I found a lesson in it. In Para Teresa the narrator portrays the event in a way that speaks volumes to her adult self, when as a child she might not have understood the significance. The depths of that encounter are not going to be apparent to a teenager or young adult until reflection and proper processing can take place and even then one must be open to the changes and learning experience that are available. This reflection is triggered by the narrator coming to terms with what happened and why while exploring the lesson that came along with it. The facilitators of this understanding were age, wisdom and curiosity. This leads me to believe that the narrator was at a point in her life of reflection and maybe some soul searching to find out how and why she grew to be the person she is today. This might have been an event she bypassed for years not being open to the ideas that were right in front of her, alternatively she might have been thinking about Teresa and the struggles they both went through and how she grew from it and was finally able to put it into words.

            In the 1950’s Latinos were being acclimated to the American culture and dealing with dissention among their own people lead to challenging times for the teenagers of the time. Teresa and the narrator make a perfect example of two conflicting ideologies regarding how to show their individual and cultural identities. This was not apparent to a couple 12 year old girls and shouldn’t be. They were simply doing what was right by them and coping in a time that was certainly not easy. As an adult it is common  to get caught up in personal beliefs leading to ignorance and judgment, when we can see our mistakes and understand why we did what we did (in most cases). As a child, no worse a preteen, there is no mistake by either to be as convicted in their ways as they were, given their circumstances. From an episode such as this it seems inevitable for a resonation to be made by either party and for an understanding to come along with it. The narrator explores the event and finds this resonation between the two and acts on it. Leading to her understanding of the other side of the argument, dropping her ignorance and judgmental perspective she sees her enemy for what she truly is/was and makes peace with her on the basis of mutual understanding of a true common enemy.

Proposition 30: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=10463