There goes the neighborhood

Well I can’t think of an account that fits this topic so I decided to write about a factual account from my mother who had an experience with this kind of situation.  This came about when she saw me struggling with this assignment and asked me what I was stuck on. Then I gladly told her what I was working on and she told me that she had an experience that’s germane to this blog topic. After talking to her, she persuaded me to write about her experience when she was still living in her village in China.

                My mother remember that one day when a city couple decided to move into the village she grew up in, they brought with them electronics and beautiful furniture  that wouldn’t be of any use in the village. When the other villagers saw that the couple brought a lot of furniture and electronics with them, they decided to help those couple move their things into their house. Upon seeing the villagers moving toward their belongings, the couple quickly moved to their things and angrily told the villagers to not even think about stealing from them. Even though the villagers meant no harm, the couple still decided to misjudge them because they think the villagers are uneducated thieves/lowlifes who don’t have enough money to support their lives in the cities.  Then the groups of villagers dispersed with anger in their minds while the couple went into their new house.  

                For the next day and the days afterward, the couple never leaves their house unless they were going to the market to buy groceries.  Due to that fact, they never got the chance to have any meaningful conversations with the villagers so wherever they go, they would bear those prejudice thoughts of the villagers in their minds. On a few occasions where a random villager stopped the couple for a quick conversation, the couple would always tell the stranger about their lives in the city and how they should be more like them instead of being lowlifes.  As the days went on, hatred started to build up between the couple and the villagers because of the couple’s prejudiced view of the villagers and the unfriendly attitude from those welcoming villagers as a response to the couple.

                From those days afterward, whenever the couple comes in contact with any of the villagers, they would argue about the most ridiculous things such as how the villagers should become more civilized and how the couple is trying to convert the villagers into carping snobs like them. With the fuel provided from the arguments, the fire of hatred strengthened until it was to the point where the couple would either apologize to the villagers or they would be evicted by any means necessary. Eventually the couple decided to apologize to the villagers but not because they changed their minds but because they think that it is a waste of energy for them to argue against lowlifes that can’t accept change.

                Even though this continued for a few years while my mother was living in her village, the idea of there goes the neighborhood applies because of how the newly moved in couple is trying to change the village while the villagers are not allowing them to do that. Historically, this could be compared to how Christopher Columbus tries to convert the Native Americans to Christianity and there were some Natives who strongly refused to change what they believed in.