Embarrassment

Who is your dad?

Embarrassment makes us angry, wish we could disappear, so that we are not connected to it. Some Americans will not vote for Donald Trump in November because they will be embarrassed to own him as ‘my President.’ Conversely, Trump supporters are proud of him, hail him as a true American and will sing his praises till they land in a prison cell.

Embarrassment is internal. Parents for example. We may feel they embarrass us in the way they speak English.

“Mom, we left Poland 15 years ago, and you still speak like this.”

“Like what?”

They embarrass us the way they eat and dress. Embarrassment is caused by new information that eating with your hands is ‘uncivilized’ unless you eat a hot dog or pizza; speaking loudly like people down home in Alabama or Onitsha disturbs the room and clothes from these areas are ‘country.’ We ate, dressed and spoke like that when we were growing up. It was never a problem. Education kicks in. We find new information that says, it ought to be like this. Guess who worked two jobs to send us to college, so that our life is softer than theirs? Parents, in some cases, single women. Embarrassment is internal because other people at the graduation ceremony, parents’ day or wedding, might not ‘see’ it. This is not fiction, there are cases all over the world, where kids denied their parents.

Politics is a different matter. It is collective. It is embodied in a person like a president or mayor therefore, the embarrassment cannot be removed by what you feel inside. It can be done at the next election, by other people who feel the same. If you are the only one who feels embarrassed, too bad. The embarrassment stays.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

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