Airports Serving Technicolor Dreams

I finally had the chance to dig into Long Walk to Freedom over Fall Break when I forgot all of my academic work in Indiana. I was about a hundred pages in when I arrived in Atlanta, which was just far enough to be against the Crown's shenanigans. The feeling was similar to what I felt during the first part of Michael Collins.

As I felt animosity towards racist motives of apartheid, I noticed that all of the ground crew in Atlanta was black unlike it was in Indy. As I entered the terminal the large black population caught my attention. The people I was seeing had the same citizenship I did, yet it took me a while to understand what they were saying when I eavesdropped in conversations.

I got in line at Pachabell's Carrousel, which is I thought looked like my best bet to get some good sweet tea- a precious commodity in Yankeeville. The line was long and the restaurant busier. Then the woman behind me asked if I would share a table with her and I agreed.

She was peculiar to me because she wore a purple dress with matching hat and complementing scarf. She had sizable ring on both hands that went well with her tennis bracelet and pearls. We both had the chicken, although I had dark meat. I'm sure that our flavor preferences had nothing to do with our ethnicities, but it was ironic nonetheless.

We learned that we are both in ministry. She also congratulated me on my recent engagement. I asked her about traveling and the list of places she had been took about a minute to get through. Given the book of choice, I asked her about her about South Africa. The man beside us chimed in. I became a spell-bound spectator and the two seemed to forget I was there.

My new found and never-seen again pastor friend paid for boths meals on the basis that he Lord had blessed her and now she was blessing me. That was fine by me - rings are exactly inexpensive. The person wearing mine is worth it.

That airport terminal provided a perfect setting for what some in this world cannot think of-- a pleasant meal between strangers who belong to different ethnicities and SESs. I hope that this kind of freedom only continues to grow.