Friday, January 15, 2010

Lazy Mexicans?

I've always heard the stereotype of the lazy Mexican but I grew up in Corona, CA and the Mexican immigrants I knew, my friends' parents, were the hardest working people I'd ever met. Fifty hour plus work-week with side-work on the weekend and if they ran out of work they worked on their own homes.

My friend Miguel's dad was a brick-worker and one year work was slow. Their house transformed. Brick everywhere, arches that went nowhere, brick toys for the kids. The man could not stand to not be working.

Now admittedly their kids were a different story. They grew up to be beer drinking, video game playing layabouts. But it doesn't take a genius to see, they did not learn this from their parents. Fact is, I'm pretty sure they learned this from me.

"Chill out Miguel. Your dad aint gonna kick you out of the will. He's bluffing. You got that beautiful brick house coming, and if he don't slow down it won't be long. Now pass me a brewski and have a seat. Cómo se dice en español, Legend of Zelda?"

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