** Today as I was standing in line at Starbucks, there was a mailman speaking to an older couple I have known through Starbucks (they come every day). They had struck up a conversation and discovered that they'd both lived in Rhode Island; the mailman in Newport, the couple in Providence. Nancy pointed me out and said, "She's from Woonsocket!" Mailman said, "You're from Woonsocket? Do you know Bert _________?"
I said, “Yes, I do know him. He’s my brother.”
I am NOT KIDDING. Turns out the mailman just moved from Newport and is one of my brother’s best friends. He called him from his cell phone immediately. When Mailman handed the phone over to me, my brother said, “He’s crazy.” Mailman took the phone back and then said to me, “Know what your brother just told me? He told me not to even try to touch you.”
That’s the thing with protective older brothers…they always treat you like you’re twelve years old.
** The other day as I was teaching Post-Holocaust theology, I was lecturing on theologian Emil Fackenheim’s response to the Holocaust. I mentioned that Fackenheim has proposed a 715th commandment, “Thou shalt not give in to despair of God or humanity, lest Hitler have a final victory.” I realized later that I had incorrectly numbered the commandments of the Torah. There are 613 Commandments therefore Fackenheim has proposed a 614th commandment. And then, I knew what I had done. I had confused the number of the Commandments in the Torah with the number of home runs Hank Aaron had to hit to beat Babe Ruth’s record…
** There is a proposed amendment on the South Carolina ballot this Election Day to ban civil unions for same-sex couples. One of the proponents of the amendment was interviewed on the local news the other night and this essentially, was her argument:
That marriage was instituted to recognize the commitment of heterosexual couples to the procreation of children. Marriage is beneficial for the propagation of the species. Marriage was intended to provide a social and religious arena for the survival of the species. Marriage as a sacred union was created by God and is intended for a man and a woman.
*First of all, the human species is not an endangered one and seems hardly to be threatened by extinction in the very near future (unless, of course we all blow each other up).
* Secondly, how would any of that STOP if same sex couples were allowed to marry?
* Thirdly, the argument from sanctity is one for the churches, not the state. Congress and state legislators have no business discussing and deciding what is sacred and what is not. The framers of the Constitution saw to that. The issue is not sanctity, but Constitutional rights. Are gay and lesbian couples denied the same rights that are extended to heterosexual couples under the law? Clearly, the answer is yes.
** Voting Democratic in South Carolina is comparable to a 300 pound woman ordering a Diet Coke with her two Big Macs. It makes us feel better about ourselves, but doesn’t really make all that much difference.
** Sixteen years ago today I was working as a part-time teller in a bank as I worked on my Bachelor’s degree. At 9:30, just after the Brinks truck had pulled away after delivering the week’s money order, an armed robber in full rubber Halloween mask entered the bank and demanded the Brinks delivery. I was at the teller station closest to the door and so consequently,closest to the bandit. It was difficult to hear him with the rubber mask and while on my knees with my hands up in the air, but finally I clearly heard him say, “You’d better get it fast or I’m going to start shooting f***in’ tellers,” at which point he looked me straight in the eye. I shouted to the head teller, “Pat, he wants the Brinks bag. Get the Brinks bag.” She was frozen in place but at the direction was ableto move into the vault and retrieve the $250,000 contained in the bags. He got what he wanted and left. Some of the people who worked in that bank could not return to branch service and had to be placed in jobs in the Operation’s Center. I wanted to go to work the next day, but the bank insisted I take the next day off and not return until after the weekend. I was determined that some bully with a gun was not going to decide how I would live my life. I also learned through this experience that I am cool-headed in crisis situations and that I am not afraid to die. (Even though I don’t want to, I am not afraid to).
1 comment:
My grandmother worked in a bank for 30 years in upstate NY. She's been involved in several robberies. I admire her resolve: she always went right back to work the next day- for the same reasons you described.
As for the gay marriage issue- I remember voting on that one! I went with a gay friend of mine for moral support. We knew we wouldn't "win", but it just felt good to make our presence known. My philosophy is that if we sit at home and say, "What's the point of trying?" then no one will know we exist and that we have rights and needs too. It felt good to be two lambs in a building full of vipers. The "sanctity" of marriage? Give me a break! When the divorce rate falls well below 50% then I might buy that crock of poo.
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