Tonight in my town there was a rally for the independence of Catalonia. There were many people, but not like it was the whole town. I don't understand why Catalonia wants independence, so (for me) it made no sense for me to be there because I don't know the facts so I don't know where I stand on this matter. Though in most cases I don't support separatism unless it is extremely bad. When I got home I went straight to my laptop and googled it. What I learnt is that Catalonia feels it is a whole different culture than Spain, that they are a nation of their own. That they feel that Spain is not doing the right things where their money, that they are working and the government is wasting their money. I also learnt that during the Franko era in Spain it was banned to speak Catalan, and that same hatred is still around today. I think, from what I've been hearing from most people, that this is why they want to separate. I feel that now I am more informed that I can make an opinion,  but I still don't know how I feel on this.
                  You see, I don't understand. Just plain and simple; I don't understand. This situation is tense. But you see there is something that bothered me about this.... rally. You see there were many children and teens there, and from the looks of it they really believed in this, even my host sister is into this. But what I ask is, do they know what they are supporting? do they know why they support it? I bet if I asked why they felt this way they would just say because; and I don't like that. I never, or try to never, support a cause unless I know why I support it and I know the facts. I will not blatantly follow, I will form my own opinion on my own. When I don't know the facts I usually say I don't know how I feel about it, like in this case. But these kids are just following their parents, being fed something they don't understand. For example, I was walking with my host sister and we were counting Catalan flags. I pointed out a Spanish and her reaction was immediately was to cringe her nose and say eww. Excuse me? Why? I'd understand if it was a nazi flag but a Spanish flag? If you complain about Spain being racist, then why, pray tell, are you cringing your nose? This hate that was created is just doing the same that Franko did. All hate does is create more hate. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND