Excuse me sir

Hello and I hope you had a happy thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is a time so be thankful, eat lots of food, and spend time with family and loved ones. It is also a time to recount stories from years past. This and the next post will be about some funny things that happened to me in the past.

I was reminded by Shane, who is my exchange student brother in law, of a story that happened when I was in junior high. I had been wanting and begging anyone who would listen to take me up to Wrigley Field to see a Cubs game. Anne (my exchange student sister) and Shane agreed to take my brother and me up to Chicago; I was so excited! Now, I had never been outside of Norris City much, but that didn't stop me from understanding the plights of other cultures...more on that in a minute.

A little bit about Anne and Shane. Anne came to our family nineteen years ago from Belgium and attended one year at NCOE high school living with my family. She ended up staying in the United States for college and went to USI, where she eventually met a boy named Shane. They fell in love and got married and now live in South Carolina. What is striking about this wonderful christian couple is how well they go together in so many ways...including height. You see, both Anne and Shane are about 5'0" tall.

Back to the Chicago story...we decide to stop at a McDonalds before the start of the game to get something to eat. As I had previously mentioned, I was well aware of the plights of other cultures, thanks in part to all the history channel I watched as a kid. Being I was in Chicago, a racially diverse community, I wanted to test this out because I didn't have a chance to do so living in Norris City. I, as the inquisitive twelve year old I was, saw my opportunity in that McDonalds in the form of a rather large black man. I walked up to the rather large black man, tapped him on the back to get his attention and asked him "Excuse me sir, but do you feel oppressed?"

Shane, sensing what was happening, immediately became afraid of being crushed by this rather large man in the middle of a Chicago McDonalds. Quickly, he gained control of his fear and scurried me away from the situation as he was trying to explain to the rather large black man that I was mentally retarded. Afterward, I received a talking to as to why that wasn't a good idea on multiple levels.

Ah....memories :)