Being prejudice is when opinions or feelings before the facts are known, without any knowledge, or a good reason it could be favorable opinions and dishonest opinions or attitude. People say that prejudice is an unfair and not reasonable opinions or feelings, especially when it is made up without enough knowledge or thought. In most cases, these opinions are found to be hatred, jealousy, racism, religions, nationalities, and so on.
When being prejudice it may be true or false information but is more likely to be negative against other people unfairly. The author Michael T. Kaufman describes two young boys Michael and Hector, who became close friends when they lived in the same apartments building. After a year Michael and his family moved to another part of town. As time went by, Michael and Hector did not keep in touch or see each other. Michael then went on to go to college.
After many years of doing all the hard work that college brings and being dedicated all paid off in the end. Once Michael graduated from college he got a job, as a reporter. One day, Michael saw Hector wearing a knitted watch cap. He assumed that Hector was a longshoreman who was working on the docks. As adults Michael and Hector realized that they didn’t have much in common and lived different life styles. At times, Michael and Hector would acknowledge each other, but mostly would pretend that they didn’t see each other in passing.
Michael often thought about how strong their friendship was in the past and how different they are now. Michael became prejudice and formed an opinion about Hector before he knew the real facts about him. Michael had negative thoughts about Hector and never gave him the chance to prove that he was just as smart and special. Hector wasn’t in the same special classes as Michael, but this doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve to be. Michael believed that he was the only normal one and that Hector was just a weird Mexican kid.
Hector was actually a real smart individual and the only reason he is not in the special classes is because when he was younger he wasn’t noticed as being smart. The school picks the children who go in the special classes when they are young, but if they were to choose him now then Hector would be part of it. After reading an article in the newspaper, Michael learned that Hector became a famous actor. He never guessed that the person who he always thought of as a longshoreman was an actor. Michael realized how wrong it was to be prejudice.
He regretted how he acted toward Hector and wanted to ask his for his forgiveness from being prejudice toward him. However, Michael did not know how to approach Hector with an apology because he didn’t know how to express his thoughts. From the story “Of My Friend Hector and My Achilles Heel,” the story explains about how Michael’s prejudice was wrong because what he assumed and thought negatively about his childhood friend Hector. But in the end all of Michael’s prejudice thoughts about everything were wrong.
