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! Continue reading →