Wednesday, September 9, 2009

A Sign of These Times

Drama/Turtle*, 2008

This is a true story. It took place last Sunday afternoon.

Our neighbor, a retired school secretary in her late sixties who lives in a two-room cottage with a teenage grandson she looks after, was shopping at the local Home Depot store. As she came around the end of an aisle, she pushed her shopping cart in front of another elderly woman’s shopping cart. No one was hurt. Nothing was damaged. The carts just banged into each other.

Before our neighbor could catch her breath to say something, the other lady demanded, “Don’t you have something to say? Like, ‘I’m sorry?’”

Our neighbor immediately responded. “I am sorry. My mind is bit distracted”—she was scheduled to have heart surgery two days later—“and I wasn’t paying attention. I’m so sorry.”

The other shopper looked at her for a moment and then said, “I think you’re being rude.”

Our neighbor, puzzled at how to deal with such a person, responded, “Look, I really am sorry. I’ve apologized three times now. What more do you want?”

The other lady looked around in disgust and started to push her cart down the aisle. But as she passed our neighbor she looked back and hissed, “You must be a Democrat!”

I say, bring on the death panels!


* For those unfamiliar with them, Johnny Drama and Turtle are characters on HBO's "Entourage." I found this sticker on a car in Savannah, Georgia, during the lead up to the 2008 Presidential election. Notice the photographer not so well hidden in the reflection.


2 comments:

  1. OMG! Too funny. It's amazing to hear conversations on the subject. I'm hoping I get to hear tonight's speech, because I don't envy Obama having to get the country mobilized behind all this. It's fascinating (and not just a little creepy) to watch how people get so visceral about all of this, without really even understanding what it's all about.

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  2. She was probably at Home Depot buying pitchforks and torches for a Town Hall meeting.

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