Set Course on the Handbasket
Not really a day that’s reaffirmed my faith in humanity. I was out running some errands and stopped off in a gas station convenience store to grab a Snapple. A woman was apparently in some kind of dispute with the cashier over an ice cream or something like that. I couldn’t quite get the details because a) I was trying not to eavesdrop, which was difficult because b) there was a lot of shouting going on. The woman was yelling something along the lines of “You’re an immigrant! Shut up! Shut up!” And after the woman left and I went to pay for my Snapple, the cashier said something to me along the lines of “Every time there’s a disturbance, it’s a black.”
So, yeah, many blows struck for compassion and a shared struggle against injustice and bigotry today. I’m not passing any specific judgment on the dispute I saw today – I have no idea who instigated it or who escalated it. By the time I got there it was past the point of no return. But I gotta think that the stereotyping both people did probably played a role of some kind in making a conflict more likely.
I dunno. No grand point here, just an observation that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while that I wanted to get into the electronic record.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.