My late fiancee, Cely, was much younger than I, 30 years younger to be exact. When she first expressed more than a platonic interest in me, I tried hard to dissuade her but nothing is more determined than a Filipina who has set her mind on something. Eventually she wore me down and we decide to get married (I honestly cannot remember which of us proposed marriage to the other - probably she proposed to me).
Whenever I was in her home city of Davao in the Philippines, I never recall any negative reactions from people we met. However, when we were together in the States, the obvious difference in our ages as well as my having a “map of Ireland” face and Cely being Asian, many people were quite rude to both of us.
I was performing at a jazz club in Denver and Cely was on school vacation (she was a schoolteacher), so she flew to Denver to spend some time with me and to meet my Colorado relatives. When we went to check in at the hotel, the clerk refused to give us the room, telling us that the hotel did not allow prostitutes and their customers to stay there. She automatically assumed because of our age and racial difference that only a prostitute would be with a man obviously so much older than she was.
We ended up staying with my aunt and uncle - which turned out to be more more enjoyable.
The many rude Americans we encountered as a couple in the United States was one of the primary reasons we planned to live in the Philippines after our wedding. Sadly, she was killed 6 months before our scheduled wedding.
Read other answers by Richard White on Quora:
- What are some unintentionally rude things people say and do?
- Why are people so rude to veterans?
- When a fan meets an actor on the street and doesn't know his name but instead says something like "You are Jesse from Breaking Bad, you're so great", would he think that's disrespectful or be honored because he's well known for his work?
from Quora http://ift.tt/2iIrf42
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