Identities

Jesus Colon, a black Puerto Rican, was in a train when he saw a woman and her children. He questioned whether he should help because he knew that she was struggling and courtesy was a big thing for Puerto Ricans. He thought about what would happen if he did offer help, he thought whether that woman was prejudiced. Jesus arrived at his destination and he just rushed past her. As he walked out of the station he regretted his decision, thinking, what if the woman was not was not what he thought she was. He regrets that day when he placed that label on that woman thinking that she was prejudiced because he failed to stick to his rule of courtesy and let down that woman. That day was also a turning point in Colon's life as he promised that he would help anyone regardless of how they would take this help. I'm not sure whether his decision was right or wrong as it would depend on whether that woman was prejudiced or not. If that woman was prejudiced and she accused him of something he could have gotten into serious trouble because there was heavy racism in the United States.

James Berry's poem "What Do We Do with a Variation", gives some possible responses to someone with a variation. The lines, "Do we shut our eyes to it" and "Do we move around it in rage and enlist the rage of others", links to Armin Greder's "The Island" because the village people tried to move the foreigner as far away as possible, trying to "shut their eyes to it", but when the foreigner came back to their village they got angry, the only exception being the fisherman who tried to help the foreigner. Colon's story also connects with this poem, "Do we shut our eyes to it" because Jesus Colon tried to shut his eyes from the woman on the train.