Judge NOT!

Dear Diary,

I love the convenience of been able to drive in my car and turn up the volume singing loudly to the music whilst reliving the feeling of singing in the shower and taking occasional peek-a-boo’S and quick glances at my rear view mirror to check the state of my lipstick or whatever…

However, the emotions that are brought out of me by the Toronto Transit City(TTC) is just unfathomable and sometimes, I do feel like a voyager sucking up the sights and side conversations amongst friends or strangers on the bus or the mosaic of people speaking various languages in a variety of accents and I just love taking it all in. Every trip tells a different story.

Today, my sense of pride as a black female was slighted. Taking a ride on the bus and a conversation amongst 5 black males encrypted into my radar and it was so obnoxious that one could accurately guess their level of maturity was next to zero! It turns out they are ex-cons and had committed several offenses. One of them spoke about how he presently has 39 charges and they all took turns subtly bragging about the number of criminal charges they had each bagged. As I listened further, they spewed lots of shameful , disgraceful facts about their criminal minds and offenses.

At this point, I’m all ears left with a weird mix of disgust + curiousity, i hope they are not murderers, I thought to myself…whilst I got into my thoughts tweeting about what I’d just heard..one of the young men who had earlier told of his 8 robberies hollered, ”yo, man you didn’t even change your looks, you should or they’ll find you”

10minutes ago when these men got on the bus, I unconsciously scanned them lightly from the face caps to their oversized t-shirts with blinging jewelries and baggy pants starting almost on their thighs with really loud rap music blaring on i-pods that dropped from their sagging pants. my first thought was just what you think but I snapped out of it when I realized I was being judgmental.

So as much as I wouldn’t volunteer to judge anyone, my question for you is how does one manage to avoid making stereotypical assumptions about people (which are sadly always judgmental and almost NEVER positive)? I’d personally hate to be judged on the average black girl basis but it may be the only hint to go by. So is it possible to be aware of a certain stereotype and not be presumptive?

That is my plight.

On the brighter side of things, I’m now on the train westbound and there’s a pan handler (homeless man ) just poking fun at this gentle man for missing the train and seeing that this fellow is in no mood for hanky panky, he turns to him and says, hey, you look like Ray Charles..LOL!!

That just made my day!

Sincerely Yours

Bourgy Babe /boogyee beib/