God bless my sweet little family, but they are some of the most prejudiced people I know.

Most comments are inadvertantly offensive. My darling little Grandma who loves everyone still calls darker people "spooks". However, my uncles on the other side of the family who aren't so loving have more aggresively rude comments regarding people of other races.

So. Tonight was the night I decided to have the little chat with my Dad whereby I would tell him he had to be nice to my "friend" who is coming to my sisters wedding. My "friend" happens to origonally be from Mexico. Regardless of the fact his English would indicate otherwise, I knew that if I did not nip any comments in the bud--a month ahead--I would be in serious trouble.

At first my father was rather miffed and offended that I would think he would say something offensive. When I communicated I thought it might be more unintentional than purposely hurtful, he was slightly mollfied. To demonstrate to me he had properly grasped the weight of our conversation he carefully thought out his greeting and rehearshed it for me. It went something like this:

"Hello, Hosea! How are things south of the border?! I just want you to know, I welcome a Mexican to the family. Our family is getting a little inbred. We need fresh blood."