"I was a racist"

[The Doctor.]

Perception is a funny thing. Every one of us has perceived something in a way that was not necessarily accurate.

That is why I was racist... for about 3 minutes.


I explain;


Indeed, this actually did happen to me, Dr. E, several weeks ago. Although I toyed with the idea of posting it here, the constraints of time and providence made it seem too trivial... then. Recent events, however, have 'put me over the fence' so to speak.

I was in a hurry. I was driving from the 190 on to Sheridan Drive on my way to the office to see a client. I knew I had to stop for gas, so I pulled into a station on Sheridan via a sidestreet so I could line up my car from the front of the building to the pumps.

The place has always been a little dilapidated, but that never meant 'bad' to me since the people were always friendly there.

There were a few cars next to three of the six pumps. Two cars were on either side of the pumps on the first island. A minivan was on the right of the second island.

"Perfect", I felt as I pulled to the opposite side of the center island, because my gas cap was on the right side of my car.

On the opposite side of the pump, a man in his mid-forties, wearing a flannel shirt and a baseball cap, who was also black, was getting out of the minivan to go in the store. As I drove up to the pump on the opposite side, we made eye contact across the island. I did the 'nod thing', but he'd already (and prudently) taken his eyes off of me to look at where he was going. Then, I looked down, and proceeded to pass by the man and the pump and drive away from the center island.

In what was obviously a more time-consuming maneuver, I pulled out in front of the third island, and backed up to the far left pump so that my right-side gas-hole was properly positioned. As I was backing up, I got a long, cross-looking stare from the other man. As I got out of the car, he shook his head and looked away.

I went into the store, the main door of which is positioned between island 1 and 2. I waited in line, and the man, after hunting down some sort of snack, stepped in line behind me.

I prepaid for my gas, which is just the way things are these days, and turned around. As I walked past, the man was giving me a 'look'. Honestly, I don't know how better to describe it. I smiled and did the 'head bob' thing, proceeded to my car, and put some outrageously expensive gas in it.

He did the same.

We were obfuscated from each-other by the pumps and columns, but I had the sense that the fellow possessed a notion that simply wasn't right.

Even though I was done pumping (I only put $20 in... for time's sake ;) ), I waited until he was done and about to get back into the driver's seat. As he did, I stepped out to toss some garbage into the can in front of the column. As I'd hoped, he looked over... probably because he noticed I was looking at him.

I said; "You know man... it's bad enough that gas is so expensive, I gotta drive an extra 40 feet because they can't fix their pumps."

And I pointed at the pump on the left side of island 2, the one just on the other side of the pump he was at.

He got a quizzical look, then looked around at the other side of his island for the first time... at the pump with the plastic bag over the nozzle and the 'out of order' sign on it.

After a pause, he looked back. I smiled and said, "Have a good one man."

It doesn't matter that he blushed all over, what matters is that he looked up, smiled, and said, "Hey, you too.", and then got into the minivan as I turned back to my car.


It happens.


It happened to me.


Let's try to give the BOTD once in a while, the world, and the people in it are actually pretty cool for the most part.


:peace:

[crim son]

1. I like your story.

I imagine it's happened to most of us.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Yesterday,

walking home with my son late in the evening (we bumped into each other on the train home).

About a block from the house, we came up to three full-grown black men walking in the opposite direction.

My son and I are not exactly small, but the shortest of these guys was a good 3 inches taller than me.


Clearly, there's not enough room for all of us to get through, so as we come up to them I step on the grass to the left and my son steps to the right, yielding the sidewalk to them.

In my mind, I had already pegged this encounter as a dominance game (we big, get out of way!)

But as they passed between us, one of them turned to me and said: "Thank you".

A courtesy received, and acknowledged.

My perception of the encounter changed instantly.

I didn't see three large black men anymore; I just saw three neighbors walking in the opposite direction.

[The Doctor.]

3. "Such is the way"

It's neat to see how frail our preconceptions can be. It just takes looking at the other side of, well... whatever.