Thursday, January 10, 2002

A heavy snow has created a winter wonderland here. It is beautiful and for once, I am able to enjoy it as I don't have an issue with driving in it due to my new purchase of a truck. I also hired a contractor to plow and sand my driveway, so even that is not an issue. I actually love this time of year and it is one of the reasons I came to the East coast in the first place.

I used to see the postcards of New England on the racks in stores, while living in the desert southwest and would get this surreal feeling when looking at them. They seemed to me to out of reach . . . unachievable. Now I see scenes like those on the postcards, as a daily occurance. I'm in a good mood just being around the beauty of it today.

The cultural thing raised it's ugly head again yesterday for me. A client I am working with making excuses for his repulsive behavior by writing it off as a cultural thing. We had a connection of sorts due to my latino background and got into a good discussion about using your culture as an excuse for your lousy and unacceptable behavior. Funny that this issue should pop up again so soon for me as I struggle with it greatly.

There is a large difference in this society between being "macho" and the latino counterpart called "machismo," that I will agree. It is a state of mind but a stubborn one at that and not as accepted as it once was.

When I was in the Philippines, I became aware that once in the Filipino culture, it was widely accepted for a man to have a mistress in addition to his wife. Now, times have changed and this practice is not so widely accepted. Basically, I think there are rights and wrongs in this world and too much is swept under the rug of "culture" as a license to hurt or affect others. -Jeeem-

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