Shoot Out the Lights
This past Saturday, I met (cue Keith Olbermann here) the Worst Person in the Worrrrrrrrrrld!!
Not to make light of the situation, but I did meet someone who was genuinely disturbing.
I'm at my gig, all ready to go. The cocktail hour was in another room, and the bride and groom were off with the photographers, so I had about an hour of nothing to do. So I went outside to have a cigarette.
Now there were three weddings going on in the hall that day. Mine was an Anglo/Vietnamese wedding (bride was Caucasian, groom was Vietnamese). Another hall had and Anglo/Asian Indian wedding going on. The third hall was what some of the staff had described as a "redneck" wedding.
I thought they were joking.
I went to the "designated smoking area" and sat down on the bench. A bit later a man, I'd say in his mid-50's, came over and sat on the other side of the bench. Some pleasantries were exchanged, and we proceeded to complain about the new Michigan no-smoking law (which is pretty much the conversation topic nowadays in smoking areas). The guy said that he thought he'd open up a bar in Montana in the middle of nowhere...a beer and shot joint and you could pretty much do what you want. I said that sounded like a good idea, but that it was probably only a matter of time before these smoking laws hit the rest of the country.
At this point, three Asian Indian gentlemen walked by, all dressed rather nicely and conversing in their native language. No big deal.
So I watch them walk by...and I heard the guy sitting next to me. "Pop....pop....pop...."
I turned to look at him. "N.R.A.", he said. "Thank God for racism!"
I wish I was making this up, but that's exactly what he said. I sat there, shocked, and unfortunately unable to come up with some sort of a reply. The only thing that was running thru my head was "you mean they still make you?"
Betcha can't guess which wedding HE was attending. Fortunately, the Indian gentlemen didn't hear him and kept on going.
"Yeah, Montana is sounding real good right about now." he said. I sat there in silence, wishing he'd just go away.
I kept thinking about the wedding I was DJing that night. Half of the room was Vietnamese; most of the probably came here from Vietnam during the war, running from the terrorism there. And 7 of them had become doctors. The groom himself had just graduated from medical school two days before. Both his siblings were doctors, his father was a doctor, and 3 of his uncles were doctors. It's not like they came to this country to live off of the system. They took advantage of the possibilities given to them, made something of themselves, and have obviously gone on to contribute something positive in return. Isn't that what our country was founded on?
Finally he stood up. "Well, I'm going to go back in."
"You do that." I said. "Oh, by the way..."
He turned to look back. I pointed my finger at him.
"POP." I said.
He threw me a dirty look and went back inside. I lit up another cigarette.
I'm not racist...I just hate stupid people. Stupidity knows no color. And this guy was certainly one of the stupidest I've ever met.
Not to make light of the situation, but I did meet someone who was genuinely disturbing.
I'm at my gig, all ready to go. The cocktail hour was in another room, and the bride and groom were off with the photographers, so I had about an hour of nothing to do. So I went outside to have a cigarette.
Now there were three weddings going on in the hall that day. Mine was an Anglo/Vietnamese wedding (bride was Caucasian, groom was Vietnamese). Another hall had and Anglo/Asian Indian wedding going on. The third hall was what some of the staff had described as a "redneck" wedding.
I thought they were joking.
I went to the "designated smoking area" and sat down on the bench. A bit later a man, I'd say in his mid-50's, came over and sat on the other side of the bench. Some pleasantries were exchanged, and we proceeded to complain about the new Michigan no-smoking law (which is pretty much the conversation topic nowadays in smoking areas). The guy said that he thought he'd open up a bar in Montana in the middle of nowhere...a beer and shot joint and you could pretty much do what you want. I said that sounded like a good idea, but that it was probably only a matter of time before these smoking laws hit the rest of the country.
At this point, three Asian Indian gentlemen walked by, all dressed rather nicely and conversing in their native language. No big deal.
So I watch them walk by...and I heard the guy sitting next to me. "Pop....pop....pop...."
I turned to look at him. "N.R.A.", he said. "Thank God for racism!"
I wish I was making this up, but that's exactly what he said. I sat there, shocked, and unfortunately unable to come up with some sort of a reply. The only thing that was running thru my head was "you mean they still make you?"
Betcha can't guess which wedding HE was attending. Fortunately, the Indian gentlemen didn't hear him and kept on going.
"Yeah, Montana is sounding real good right about now." he said. I sat there in silence, wishing he'd just go away.
I kept thinking about the wedding I was DJing that night. Half of the room was Vietnamese; most of the probably came here from Vietnam during the war, running from the terrorism there. And 7 of them had become doctors. The groom himself had just graduated from medical school two days before. Both his siblings were doctors, his father was a doctor, and 3 of his uncles were doctors. It's not like they came to this country to live off of the system. They took advantage of the possibilities given to them, made something of themselves, and have obviously gone on to contribute something positive in return. Isn't that what our country was founded on?
Finally he stood up. "Well, I'm going to go back in."
"You do that." I said. "Oh, by the way..."
He turned to look back. I pointed my finger at him.
"POP." I said.
He threw me a dirty look and went back inside. I lit up another cigarette.
I'm not racist...I just hate stupid people. Stupidity knows no color. And this guy was certainly one of the stupidest I've ever met.