I work at a pool, and I learn a lot of things about a lot of people. Lifeguards are really social creatures after all! Because I work at a pool, I get to do a lot of events. One of these include swim meets. I will be honest, I totally blanked while it was playing. Everyone was standing and facing torwards the American flag, and I was over here sitting on my butt. Afterwards, my friend (who is an international student) and I joked about the fact it's ironic that we didn't say the Pledge of Alligence. He's not from this country, and I was colonized by it. Our co-workers also found it humourous, but you know who didn't? The man that I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. In retrospect, I am glad things didn't work out. He berated me for 'disrespecting the veterans and slaves' and I was agahst. I explained to him the concept of how the Hawaiian people were colonized, and still colonized till this day, but he said I was 'taking it too personally'. I decided from then on, my history is one that needs to be shared. Some people shy away from the horrible history, but just because you ignore it doesn't mean it didn't exsist. Just because I'm mixed, it doesn't make me not any less Hawaiian. I was born a Hawaiian, I will die as one as well. I will always be Hawaiian. Not American.
