Lingering in the shadows of my hometown community, exclusionism and intolerance for anyone on the outside shook the foundation of my outlook and behaviors because my initial understanding of citizenship was incredibly tolerant. For the majority of my childhood I was cared for by a nanny, her name was Juana, from Mexico City and her three children were my closest and most treasured friends. Juana’s husband, Carlos, was an employee of my father’s and when he came home at night from work he would teach me to count in Spanish and I would teach him to read my books in English. They taught me to speak Spanish, how to roll and flatten the tortillas before we cooked them on the stove, how to celebrate birthdays, how to dance, how to sing, and the most beneficial of all was how to feel welcomed and included into their family culture. In return, not …show more content…
On one hand, I agree that reaching out to those that need financial, physical, emotional help is acceptable and good and gracious and in accordance with the religious texts that were referenced like Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Evangelical. Additionally, those that we do not know socially, who we consider strangers, are just as valuable as those we do and whether we only build a surface level trust or we become an indispensable element in their life journey we too possess the power to provide them the due respect they as humans, citizens or otherwise, deserve. This is relevant to my idea of citizenship because to be a part of what the American government, as well as her people and those who made up my childhood environment, makes out to be a type of sacred association member, we truly need only to acknowledge what each and every person possesses regardless of status—they are human. If they are human they are valuable and if they are valuable then they must be recognized as