The Little Things Are Big by Jesus Colon

The Little Things Are Big Essay Rebuttal, Oct 20, 2009

 

Not so, that is, are the little things big. That could be relational. Most little things are little and the big, they are bigger than the little things, but what matters is that some things we consider to be small are indeed quite big – and vice versa.

 

Jesus Colon has written a small narrative of a small event in his life which had touched him many years later. He does not mention it directly, but obviously since he is going back in time – “1955 or '56...a long time ago” – the memory of what occurred that fateful morning obviously has stayed with him. This writer, however, has found the story and Mr. Colon to be:

 

Cheap – he should have really focused on what the woman was thinking. Why relate a story – simply via one’s own perspective? What would have been interesting is what the woman was thinking. Having had several years to reflect on this narrative, we, the reader, would have been treated to an interesting story found only in the naked city. Now we ask why was all the time taken up concerning only what the author was thinking? Not a fare or balanced writer, you would say. By making her a living, breathing individual, Mr. Colon would have highlighted his subject’s suffering and taken the emphasis off of himself.

 

Inconsiderate – he does not consider that his reaching out would naturally be re-buffed and not so because of race. Would assisting the woman up the stairs had eased the pain she was having – possibly having a fight with her husband and heading out in the cold air to go live with her mother for a few days?

 

Racist – and sexist, yes. By showing his disdain for this woman’s suffering and by not including her narrative as part of the story, Colon shows himself to be a racist. You may call this “reverse racism”, where the color of the subject compels the storyteller to act or not act – while all the while making himself to be an innocent bystander – to which we could say – if only the subject was not of this or that color, then Mr. Colon would have come to her aid. You see, what Mr. Colon is trying to point out is, it’s the subject’s fault: being of such and such a color has caused him to believe his “courtesy” in assisting her would have been re-buffed. Mr. Colon is not only insecure in his race, his own insecurity has caused him to judge another race.

 

Secondly, he only shows his own nature and bent, as a man of Spanish descent, by always looking upon the opposite sex as being in need. Mr. Colon’s culture relishes the man – the Latino – as the hero, and the woman as the one in need – unable to take care of her own self. Let’s ask some simple questions: was the woman incapable of helping herself? Or, were the children Mr. Colons’ – to which he would be obligated to help? By believing the woman in question was incapable of helping herself and needed a man to help her up and down the stairs shows only that Mr. Colon is also a sexist.

 

The moral of the story, and here is where little things get big, is to be secure in who and what you are. Though the author of Little Things Are Big has put on “repentive lens”, decrying his sore racist and sexist viewpoints as standard litmus tests for helping others, it is important for us to know our strengths and weaknesses - so we can reach out to others in their time of need.