"Be the change you want to see in the world" -Ghandi

The news in Ecuador is full of reports from Barcelona. The word "xenophobe" is prominent in every editorial, and the most talked-about teenager has no displayed face and no name. There are demonstrations at our capital and discussions in our National Reality class over one ignorant man who made a grave error.

On October 7th, Sergi Martín, a 21 year old Barcelonian, had a beer at a local bar and left for the train home shortly after. The security videos show him on the train, talking on his cell phone and standing in the aisle, calmly leaning against a pole. However, not long after this shot is one of him yelling at a fellow passenger, a 16 year old ecuadorean girl whose identity is being kept private. Just seconds later, there is clear footage of Sergi kicking the girl in the face. I'm not positive of all the details as of yet, but I believe he continued to attack her after this. She didn't do anything to protect herself.

There has been a speedy hearing. Sergi is not getting any jail time because of a mental illness and some sympathy because he was supposedly inebriated, and across the world, Ecuadoreans, Spaniards, and any sympathetic to the girl are in an uproar.

I personally have been lucky enough to sit in a classroom full of 16 year old ecuadoreans. I cannot imagine being drunk enough and angry enough and confsed enough to kick anyone in the face, much less a young girl I hardly knew. There are of course accusations, because the girl was not Spanish, that the attack had to do with her ethnicity, and as the tape doesn't show them talking about anything in particular before the blow, I can't imagine what she could have done to instigate an argument like that.

I believe that people like that are why I am 3100 miles away from everyone I know, all my creature comforts and my family. I believe that ignorance like that, cold, angry ignorance, is why people need to see how small the world is. During spare time in classes, I have conversations with my classmates here that mimic conversations I've had before in Colonie. In two months of being here, I've met no less than 5 people who have lived in New York in their lifetime and come here. It sounds so simple, but the world is a tiny, tiny thing. Hugs here are as warm and comforting as any hug above the equator, and latitude has no affect on the joy of being nice.


It is unfair that a girl being kicked in the face calls to attention people's ignorance. Every time the "N" word is uttered, there should be demonstrations like this. If every person just sat and thought about it, it would be blatantly clear that we are no different from each other. Honestly, what does a bigot think the people he hates are like? Does Sergi think ecuadoreans wear loincloths and paint our faces? Do they honestly believe that we don't shop in the same stores, eat the same food, drink the same Pepsi, wear the same Nikes, talk on the same Motorola flip phones about the same badly dressed celebrities? Because, news flash, front page, above the fold: We're all exactly equal.

Two years ago, I heard a quote that has stuck with me and become a part of me. Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." It does not take demonstrations, it does not take flag-waving and picket signs, it doesn't really take much at all; just a conscious decision to give everyone a chance. It starts with us.