Other People's Issues -- the poem

Other People’s Issues

She doesn’t understand how this whole

thing got started, how it blew up from

nothing to such a big mess. She

certainly never intended any insult.

She’s not prejudiced against anyone—

that includes Italian-Americans—and

she knows bigotry is a hideous and

unseemly character flaw so she’s

always prided herself on her ability

to be sensitive around other people’s issues.

All her life she’s heard that Italians

are emotional. Is there something wrong

with a person who has emotions? Would

you rather be called cold and machine-

like? Is it completely unreasonable to

suggest that having emotions includes

having a temper? And if she doesn’t like

bad-tempered people who aren’t Italian,

why should she like bad-tempered people who

are Italian? Remember her exact words:

I don’t like these bad-tempered Italians.

Now, don’t misunderstand. She knows what

you’re thinking. But she’s lived on this

earth for thirty-seven years and has

always heard that Italians are emotional,

has always seen them portrayed that way

in books and movies, has never before even

seen one in person. What could there be

on earth or in heaven, or even in hell, to

make her stop

and think it might not be true? Certainly

not your own bad-tempered response to a

minor incident, to what’s really your own

misunderstanding of an innocent remark.

She’s really hurt by your hasty and

insensitive accusation of bigotry and your

unfriendly refusal to accept her good

intentions with humor and grace and

she thinks you owe her an apology.

(c) Rose Romano