seriously??

my mother called me the other day to tell me my 'cousin' (not really a cousin but a close friend of the family) is thinking about adopting two children from africa which didn't surprise me as she has often waxed poetic about how great it would be to have black children...  

my 'cousin' has blonde hair and blue eyes, as does her husband and their biological sons.  this is not where i have the issue (though i'm not a big supporter of transnational/racial adoptions).  i have a huge issue with her political and religious views.  growing up, we spent nearly every weekend together.  and, although we seemed to get along just fine, i never felt safe or close to her as she constantly said things like, 'you're so lucky god saved you from your life in korea' and 'i'm sure you would have ended up a diseased prostitute, living on the street if your parents didn't save you'.  i thought she might have grown/educated herself out of these views, but unfortunately she hasn't.  i spoke to her a few months ago and was appalled when she mentioned how lucky i was to find a great husband and that i never would have found that in korea as i would have been 'dead or at best a diseased prostitute, living on the street'.  i kid you not.  she's my age, has two small children, wants to adopt two children of african descent, and still to this day believes my fate was sealed had i remained in korea.

so, i told my mother about my cousin's views and how i didn't think she was a good candidate to adopt (not even bringing up her dismal financial situation...not that you have to we wealthy to adopt, but let's face it, adoption is a business - and, quite frankly, her family is one paycheck away from being homeless). 

anyway, when i told her about the 'diseased prostitute' and 'being saved' comments and now nobody should ever say that to anybody EVER, she actually agreed.  WILD!!!

but THEN not one minute later she said, 'no, i don't think you would have ended up a diseased prostitute on the streets, but maybe if you were from thailand'.  WHOA!!!  

the second i think i've made some progress with my mother, she takes a million steps backwards...with all the resources out there for adoptive parents, she is still living in the dark ages.