February 26, 2020

The following was written (and never posted) on February 26, 2020.  I have not changed a word.  I think I must've thought I had more to add or something. I couldn't add anything to it now, because I am not that person anymore. I am way less naive after everything that happened in 2020.  I think I've still only scratched the surface of my delusion.

~~~

The following happened yesterday. It made me a little sad because I think my faith in humanity was probably slightly elevated at the time.  And then ...

I used to take my dry cleaning to Nu Trend on about 77th and Cass. It's next door to the tobacco shop that used to be Ted Lechnowski's Bike/Hockey shop.

I usually drop my dry cleaning off after work so I always see the same person at the counter. She's a kindly, elderly woman of slight build and auburn (probably dyed) hair.  

One time last winter, there was a little suffering bird just inside the shop door, next to a small waste basket.  She told me that it was on the sidewalk this morning when she got there and she was hoping it would recover. She had set up a dish of water and some sort of meal for the doomed creature. She was very sad about it. It was a little awkward, because it seemed like she might cry. I was thinking the bird was too far gone (it was mostly dead when I walked in and all dead when I left). But I admired the compassion she had for the helpless little bird. 

Yesterday I went in to pick up some dry cleaning up and drop some off. I walked in and she said "Hinsley" by way of greeting. I smiled and took a fun size snickers bar from the candy bowl at the counter. I stuck the candy in my pocket and she kind of smiled. It was a little bit of a funny gesture, so her smile was appropriate.

Then she told me about people come in and say, "Is this free?" and grab a huge handful. She went on to tell me how angry it makes her.  I made a sort of "Pauline" comment by way of acknowledgement like "Don't they have food at home?" 1 Cor 11:34. 

"And you know, It's always the coloreds" she said back. I might have understood the audacity if she had pronounced my name correctly. It would have meant she knows my relatives and feels it's safe to go full Klan on me.  But no. She said "Hinsley" not "Hinsley."

It made me sad, but it is a wake-up call. Whenever I start thinking things are better than they used to be, the kindly old shop lady is there to remind me that I'm fooling myself.  Well, not anymore. I'm going to start going somewhere else. After I get my dry cleaning back.

The weird thing is that "Max I Walker" sounds much more Aryan than "Nu Trend". Especially if you pronounce "Walker" with a "V". 

 

~~~

That was 2 weeks before we started working from home and 21 months ago. I haven't been to a dry cleaner since.  We all knew about the coronavirus when I wrote this. We also knew about racial tensions between a political party and a race of people.  We just didn't know how bad it was yet.