Lost In Florence: Today’s Compliments

I’m going to speak about something irrelevant to Florence today, but in order to get you on board with what I’m talking about i’ll have to let you in on an experience I had this week.

 

My mom’s friend was coming to Florence for a few days, and I had to meet her and just say Hi out of courtesy (Yes, my mom forced me to do so). I had never met her before and so it was something I definitely wasn’t looking forward to..

 

Anyway, I awkwardly said Hi to her with a smile on my face just to get this over and done with, until she said something that really caught my attention.. She was like “Aw, look at you! you don’t even look Egyptian.”, with a smile on her face as if she just complimented me by telling me I don’t look Egyptian.  I kept smiling awkwardly standing there, hoping to god that she’s not expecting a “Thank you” or anything. 

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I know she meant well,but the point of this story is to bring to your attention how compliments are damn weird these days…I don’t look Egyptian? umm…okay? How is that supposed to make me feel? Am I supposed to care about what nationality you think I belong too according to how I look? Seriously though, whoever decided that any foreigner or non-egyptian is automatically good looking? and who decided that Egyptians have the word “UGLY” in their genes?

 

Are we really trying to be so westernized that looking like a non-egyptian is simply something that makes you feel better about yourselves?

In my opinion, that is retarded. I have seen ugly foreigners, and I have seen beautiful Egyptians, and telling someone they don’t look Egyptian is only an opinion, not a compliment.