Interracial relationships are still very much a touchy subject in many parts of the world. While there are far more pros than cons, there are problems that will come up. It’s mostly just a matter of handling these as they appear and you’ll be able to have one of the happiest relationships of your life.
The cons to being part of an interracial relationship are:
- Learning a different culture: When you’re dating someone from another racial origin, there may be many things that this person has to teach you about his or her customs and traditions.
- History of the family: This can be tied in with culture. The story of how someone’s family came to your country can be very exciting.
- Exotic feeling: Being with someone of a different race can be quite appealing because it has a new and fresh feeling to it. You also get to experience so many new things.
- Enjoy everything you would with a person of your own race: In addition to the other pros of an interracial relationship, you can look forward to all of the ordinary pleasures any good relationship brings you.
The cons of an interracial relationship rarely have anything to do with the two people involved. It’s everyone else that have and cause the problems, such as:
- Being accepted: Sadly, many people still live in the past and just can’t accept that two people of difference races can be together happily. However, there are parts of the world where this is less prevalent than others. No one should have to flee their home due to prejudice over their relationship, but it’s an option if you feel you can be happier in a less biased environment.
- Don’t do it for revenge: This is the worst reason to become involved with someone from another race, although it used to be one of the most frequent ones in the past. People would do this to get even with a racist member of the family. This isn’t a real relationship, not to mention that it’s never right to use another person in that way.
- Can cause your parents to disown you: This can go hand in hand with being accepted. Many times, parents just cannot move past the race issue. This is sad on so many levels as they will be missing so many things such as getting to know this new person their adult child loves as well as possible grandchildren.
Probably one of the most ignorant arguments on the planet against bi-racial relationships is that of the difference in skin color. Of course, most of this goes back so far that no one today will be able to give you a viable reason why two people of different races cannot, and should not, live happily in a thriving relationship. What DOES seem apparent, though, is that hate breeds hate, no matter where the starting point was.
As the world has progressed over the centuries in such areas of technology and medicine, it seems that some of the more important things in life, such as equality, have gone untouched. However, teenagers and young adults of today typically have none of those old prejudices of their parents and grandparents. They’re able to see a person for what and who they are, not what color they may be. This is one of the reasons you’re seeing more and more bi-racial relationships and marriages.
If you’re a part of this age group and you’ve met someone not of your race that makes your heart beat faster and gives you a feeling of happiness, most likely you’ve managed to avoid being raised by, or around, deeply narrow minded people. However, you could also come from people that are magnanimous when it comes to talking about how all kinds of people should be allowed to live happily, but when you bring home a partner of a different race than you, they have a fit. These people may truly believe that it’s some sort of “sin” for people of different races to come together. They need to be re-educated.
Now, if you’ve found the person that you believe to be the love of your life and he or she is of a different race than you, if your family is narrow minded, you’ve got some work ahead of you. All of the old arguments are still valid but if your family wants to turn a deaf ear to what you have to say about how wonderful your love is, you just may have to make a hard choice. As love really is color blind, you’ll probably make the choice that’s going to give YOU a happy and prejudice free life.
There IS no “superior” race even though certain people seem to believe that. Adolph Hitler is a prime example of fanaticism and racism at its worst and history speaks for itself in that instance. If you have found the person you love and that person is of a different race than you, there should be nothing standing in the way of your happiness. All you can do is try to make your family see the wonderful qualities this person has and how they enrich your life. If your family truly loves you and cares about your happiness, they’ll accept your partner. If they choose not to, you may just have to walk away from them in order to have the life you want.
What it all comes down to is that you can probably expect the same good points and bad points in an interracial relationship as you would in any “traditional” relationship. The thing is, you have many freedoms today that didn’t exist in the past. You now have the freedom to love whomever you choose whether that person is of the same race as you or not.
Interracial relationships can be just as happy as any other. If you have family and friends that refuse to accept your newfound happiness, they are simply being selfish and don’t care that much about what makes you happy.