Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away. Patience obtains all things©Teresa of Avila

 

 

Part 4

Sometimes, when we want to go home because we’re missing the feelings that home brings us, time stands still.

It felt like it was taking forever for hubby to get back with the car. The wind never stopped reminding me of its force. I scooted to a small area on the bench where there was a tiny glimmer of sun. I never have been able to tolerate the cold. I was really, really cold. My cellphone finally got a signal where I was able to see the temperature was 48 degrees.  

When I saw our car park near me, I jumped right in. Hubby had turned the heat on. It was toasty warm. Luggage loaded and my trusty driver buckled in we headed for home sweet home. It’s a three hour drive from the port to our front door. 

I asked him if there were a lot people at the car park while fiddling with the radio buttons. Hubby asked me to wait a few minutes before I turned the radio on. Then, and only then, did I see he looked upset. He began to tell me what had happened.

The car park has several floors. He’d parked on the fourth floor. He was in the elevator when the doors started closing. He saw a couple walking towards the elevator and shouted he’d hold the door for them. The man gestured no. Of course, he figured their car was on that floor. Once he arrived on his floor, the second elevator doors opened. 

He looked towards that elevator and realized it was the couple we’d offered chairs to on New Year’s Eve. They were also the couple he’d offered to hold the elevator doors for.

 He called out to them saying, “There was room in the elevator but, hey, we both got here at the same time.” Smiling he said, “Did you have a nice cruise?”

“You talkin’ to me?”, Mr. Grumpy said.

Yes, it was Mr. Grumpy and his wife.

“Sure, I was talking to you. We sat together on New Year’s Eve. Remember?”

“I didn’t sit with no one on New Year’s Eve. I don’t associate with no h_nky.” “And, I don’t talk to no h_nkies neither’.”

Quickly, his wife took hold of his arm and gravitated him towards the aisle.

~~~  Well, shut my mouth before the flies get in. ~~~

After my one minute rant, he continued with this horrible experience. 

He said he watched him walking away while a million thoughts went through his mind. His life flashed before his eyes. He’d grown up in an urban ghetto of Brooklyn, NY. All through his youth he’d dreamt of being a policeman. He felt they were the cowboys with the white hats riding in to save people. This was his neighborhood. Police were daily visitors. He learned to be tough on those mean streets. He gained experience on how to survive. He wanted to be more and knew, someday, with a good job he’d leave those dirty dark crumbling streets and have a better life. He accomplished that. He became a policeman. He built a life he could be proud of for himself and his family. It’s a shame that now-a-days you can’t tell people you were a policeman because of the anger people have towards them. The sacrifices they and their families make are many but there are rewards too. Ironically, his precinct was in the highest crime area of Brooklyn. And yes, it was a black neighborhood. He treated everyone with respect as they did him. Perhaps, it was a different time. Perhaps, the neighborhood needed him. Now, he was being attacked for, oddly enough, being white. According to the 2020 census, we are not white we are whatever our nationality is. I digress.

When you’re getting older things aren’t addressed with arguments, physical aggression or aren’t even addressed at all. But the moment he was attacked by this hateful man, all of the behaviors from his youth surged like cream to the top of milk. He took a few deep breaths and came back to the reality of his present being. He thought it was best to accept the situation in an intellectual way and consider what had just happened. 

The first thing he thought about was his, recent, near death heart attack. It stopped all desire to get involved with this man in any way, immediately. He recognized that it wouldn’t be an end to this man’s negative hateful thoughts. He walked away and found our car. 

Our world is changing. Life as we know it, is no more. Will this hateful man with his racist thoughts change his ways of thinking. No, I don’t think he will. He is but a minute part of the world. I see a world with lots of different colors. We are all special. We should all be proud of who we are. Hate doesn’t do anything but cause more hate.

Isadora 😎

The saga with COVID 19 and Me will continue … come on back for the next chapter …

 

The saga with COVID 19 and Me will continue … come on back for the next chapter …

Isadora 😎

Part 1 – COVID19 and Me

Part 2 – COVID19 and Me – Part 2

Part 3 – COVID19 and Me – Part 3