Sometimes funny things happen in a grocery store
Hey, I’m at Costco now and this short, little, old man is chasing me down while waving a handful of bananas. What in the world? Is he gonna whip me upside the head with a buncha nanas? I’m a little worried someone is gonna record this and put it up on YouTube and people the world over will misconstrue it as a racial incident. Why? Because, I’m a old White guy and he’s an old fella of East Asian descent.
Merely a short time earlier I was looking around this massive Costco store in Shoreline, Washington, just north of Seattle. I felt awe seeing the overwhelming abundance of goods and services sold here. In a strange way, seeing all of this made me proud to be an American. I felt glad and happy as I looked around and saw the incredible diversity of people with folks from so many different ethnic groups, races, cultures, religions, and languages all here together, peacefully. Yes, made me immensely proud to be an American. This is probably not what many people imagine when they see the words, “proud to be an American.” As a reminder, patriotism comes in many flavors along a spectrum. I’m not blind to the problems of our nation or to the darkness within its history, but seeing so many different kinds of people together shopping in relatively harmonious fashion where the greatest acrimony may be the impatience of find a parking spot there sure felt good. And now this other man was chasing me down with a handful of bananas!
I step back to let him zoom on past me. He stops, however, and with a smile informs me in broken English I’ve run off with his big ass shopping cart. Somehow I’d left mine over by the bananas, turned around, and laid my hands on his. Oh my goodness! I quickly apologized, let go of the cart handles, and let him take it back. Felt embarrassed, but he was a forgiving sort. We both had a great belly laugh together. See, our carts are similarly 90% empty, Ha Ha! Yes, life can sure be funny sometimes!
Thing is, this is the second time this has happened to me at Costco. These gigantic, red Costco carts!
Yes, we Americans do indeed have significant problems here in this empire of ours, and more than mistakenly grabbing someone else’s shopping cart. The extreme polarization of our political discourse is evidence of the simmering discontent threatening even more violence. This cognitive mayhem is inundated with lies, half-truths, and conspiracy theories amplified and multiplied across the virtual reality of social media. Still, I’m glad to be here in Seattle, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, in the United States of America. May we always stay united despite our many differences and challenges. People sometimes seem quicker to pull out a pistol or a knife over issues of far less importance than accidentally grabbing someone else’s shopping cart.
Ah, technology. This originated as a text to my wife “Sent from my iPhone.”
William Dudley Bass
Sunday 28 July 2024
Wednesday 31 July 2024
Shoreline/Seattle, Washington
USA
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