REALLY?

Ran into an old friend after class this morning. We sat and sipped coffee, exchanging notes. She has been experiencing some professional ‘racial tension’ in her work as a physical therapist. Seems some of the red necks don’t much appreciate her liberal attitudes. I shake my head in horror as she provides detail.

The conversation shifts with each participant reaffirming the importance of removing the current cancer from the American body politic. Along with this affirmation, the blue no matter who, comes her story, illustrating how important it is right now to demonstrate the equal and opposite, the yin to the yang, of hate, fear, cruelty, oppression and the other sordid attitudes that accompany the myriad insidious forms of racism. She tells her story.

“I am grocery shopping after work and the lady in front of me at the check out counter is emptying her cart as she struggles to control her pair of obviously tired and hungry kids. The cashier finishes and the lady swipes her debit card. Declined. She tries another one. Same result. One of the kids shrieks as she watches Mom start to walk back her purchases of candy, pop tarts and raisin bran. As she is doing so she has started a rambling explanation of the situation, her boy friend supposed to deposit his check that morning, the car needed a new battery, the rent is late and one of the girls needs braces.’

As I listen I already know what happens next, but bite my tongue to allow her to tell the story in her own words. She continues.

‘So I step in and tell the cashier that I will take care of the balance. The cashier says that it will be around $60 and am I SURE that I want to do that? I answer that I am. And do.’

What a beautiful story and magnificent gesture I say.

‘We, all of us, need to start doing nice things again, not slam others because of differences, not condone violence, not politicize poverty, not incarcerate children into cages of fear and not constantly flame the fires of racism, intolerance and greed.’

Sing it to me sister.

When she has finished I tell my story about buying a disabled veteran a gift certificate at a DQ in Northern California. There was a hassle because it was a busy day and the cashier was new and flustered on the job having had no training on anything other that taking orders and making change. After my conversation with the assistant manager, probably a junior in high school, a gift card was paid for and I went back to the initial cashier and announced that we had been successful in the transaction, so could she PLEASE see to it that the Vet received the card before leaving. She says sure, who should I say left it?


Nobody. Anonymous. Just say somebody wanting to do something nice. She looks at me as if I had just landed on a saucer from Mars.

Really?