It is Not Mean to Talk Loud

              Staying away from home was not my decision. My mother had this plan all along that once I promoted from eighth grade, I was going to transfer to Holbrook. 

After my first day of high school and being in the dorm, I ended up crying for three hours straight. I went from being home and having friends every day to being two hours away and scared to talk to new people. 

Eventually, I got used to being away from home. The person who was there for me all four years was my grandma who works at the dorm. She’s my grandma by clan which means her grandma was my great grandma’s sister.

My grandma always prevented me from getting in trouble, and always knew when I was having a hard time. 

However, I noticed girls would make fun of her. If she was would try to yell at a disrespectful student they would laugh at her face. I ended up being known as a “mean” girl for stepping up for my grandma, whenever someone would disrespect her in front of me.

I would spend some nights talking to her and of course I am not fluent in Navajo but she would talk nonstop in Navajo. There was one story that broke my heart; it was about her being born without an eardrum in her right side, and because of that her mother always told her education was not important for her, particularly. Her mother constantly told her to herd the sheep and to take care of her siblings which caused her to never graduate from high school. 

In the end of the story, she stated that she was embarrassed not being able to hear what girls say or ask her for. I noticed that girls in the dorm laugh at her illiteracy whenever she tried to ask them to do something, unaware that her mom discouraged her to be educated. Girls will rudely yell at her when she has to ask them to repeat what they said, not knowing she can’t hear in the ear they’re talking near.

She’s my favorite person here. There are days when I will not want to mop the floors but she would come in my room saying, “where’s my granddaughter?” Also making me promise her that I will mop. Some days, I will get annoyed but I remember she is trying to prepare me for my solo trip into the world. 

It’s hard seeing my grandma get laughed and yelled at because she really just wants all of us to get educated and to be great human beings. 

Navajos were always raised to respect our elders. However, it seems like more people are starting to neglect them. First of the months are the days when the elders get paid, but those are the days where the younger Navajos go crazy by using the money their grandparents get. People will laugh at their grandparents because the world has changed drastically ever since they were our age but the younger generations don’t try to see it in that perspective.

Respecting elders and everyone is a great lesson to learn and to teach throughout life. I highly respect the people who give up their seats and coats for the older generations.