- Oct 9, 1999
- 46,036
- 8,720
- 136
So I was down in Rehoboth Beach, DE this weekend. Life itself, as we well know, is a beach, so there I was, Sunday morning, toddling along on the boardwalk on my bike, bitterly regretting that it was no longer bikini weather.
I'm a YUUUUUGE dog lover, so when I saw a small gaggle of dogs and their owners over by a side bench, over I went. What first drew my attention was a magnificent German Shepherd . . . a gorgeous example of the breed. Among the low information set, German Shepherds can have a bad rep as vicious, and they do have a martial, protective streak, but the best of them are amazingly intelligent and well mannered beasties, and this guy was one.
He was delicately trying to make friends with two smaller dogs, not in any overly intrusive manner, just so. One of the two others was some sort of ~25 pound terrier, being held in the lap of his owner as his owner sat on the bench. So, quite naturally, this terrier was emitting a very low warning growl as the Shepherd tried to approach.
No fireworks, just so . . . non-insane dogs that didn't know each other negotiating their meeting.
TMI of a non-relevant sort so far? Well, gentle reader, you're not a dog, so I can more confidently say, "Bite me." ;-))
Anyway, in the course of chatter between the humans involved, it came to light that the guy on the bench holding the terrier type had been a cop in Balitimore for 20 years . . . and had now spent the last 15 years as a third grade teacher in the same "distressed precinct" where he'd been a cop.
During my time as a P.I. I'd had some occasions to go down to Baltimore. "Charm City" indeed.
The Shepherd owners left but this guy and I kept talking. He and his wife, 20 years his junior (he was probably still south of 60 but looked in great shape -- not bloated gym queen shape, just real life shape) had bought a house in Rehoboth. He'd introduced her to cycling. We talked about the challenges of teaching and of being a cop, etc.
He was open and friendly. Some of the tack of his answers did make me wonder about what his political stance in this election might be, so, finally, I very respectfully asked him who he was going to vote for. I prefaced that by saying it was none of my business and if he thought the question intrusive or whatever, just to shine it on.
You folks may not know it from my, errrrr, vigorous P&N persona, but, in real life, I am NOT one of those blowhard partisans who brings up politics at every conceivable opportunity or who tries to impose whatever my views are on others. I am firmly of the mind that the world does not need yet another angry public partisan blowhard, of any stripe.
Anyway, his answer was, "Trump." He went on to say Hillary was the most corrupt politician of our times, along with her husband, that the Dems were responsible for job losses in our country, and that "open borders" were allowing cartel drug dealers to pour into our country, among other things.
I did not argue with him, why bother? Like I said, the world doesn't need another partisan political nerd fight and I was never looking for any sort of confrontation on this sunny, doggie adorned, beach boardwalk day.
The one thing, the ONE thing that I said in even, measured tones was the statistic that immigrants, as a whole, have a lower crime rate than the native population. I didn't engage on any other point nor did I ever state my beliefs or who I was voting for.
At the end, I shook his hand and said, "While we might have different political beliefs, you're a good guy."
And . . . he was (glenn1, is that you?)
I'm not trying to make any political point with this story, I'm just relating it. It's a tale from Real Life, which is infinitely more complex and confounding than, say, P&N life. It's confounding to me how this guy, now a third grade teacher in the ghetto, could be so passionately for Trump, but there it is . . . real life.
The last thing I said to him was that I never forget to remain grateful to live in a country where both he and I are free to hold different political beliefs. And I never do. Our country is far from perfect, and, as a country, we have done some horrible things, and, sure, there are strong aspects where I believe we could learn from some other Western democracies how to improve how we treat our own people, but I am eternally GRATEFUL to have been born a white male in the USA.
World wide? That 1%? That's us, baby. Even shorty. ;-))
I'm a YUUUUUGE dog lover, so when I saw a small gaggle of dogs and their owners over by a side bench, over I went. What first drew my attention was a magnificent German Shepherd . . . a gorgeous example of the breed. Among the low information set, German Shepherds can have a bad rep as vicious, and they do have a martial, protective streak, but the best of them are amazingly intelligent and well mannered beasties, and this guy was one.
He was delicately trying to make friends with two smaller dogs, not in any overly intrusive manner, just so. One of the two others was some sort of ~25 pound terrier, being held in the lap of his owner as his owner sat on the bench. So, quite naturally, this terrier was emitting a very low warning growl as the Shepherd tried to approach.
No fireworks, just so . . . non-insane dogs that didn't know each other negotiating their meeting.
TMI of a non-relevant sort so far? Well, gentle reader, you're not a dog, so I can more confidently say, "Bite me." ;-))
Anyway, in the course of chatter between the humans involved, it came to light that the guy on the bench holding the terrier type had been a cop in Balitimore for 20 years . . . and had now spent the last 15 years as a third grade teacher in the same "distressed precinct" where he'd been a cop.
During my time as a P.I. I'd had some occasions to go down to Baltimore. "Charm City" indeed.
The Shepherd owners left but this guy and I kept talking. He and his wife, 20 years his junior (he was probably still south of 60 but looked in great shape -- not bloated gym queen shape, just real life shape) had bought a house in Rehoboth. He'd introduced her to cycling. We talked about the challenges of teaching and of being a cop, etc.
He was open and friendly. Some of the tack of his answers did make me wonder about what his political stance in this election might be, so, finally, I very respectfully asked him who he was going to vote for. I prefaced that by saying it was none of my business and if he thought the question intrusive or whatever, just to shine it on.
You folks may not know it from my, errrrr, vigorous P&N persona, but, in real life, I am NOT one of those blowhard partisans who brings up politics at every conceivable opportunity or who tries to impose whatever my views are on others. I am firmly of the mind that the world does not need yet another angry public partisan blowhard, of any stripe.
Anyway, his answer was, "Trump." He went on to say Hillary was the most corrupt politician of our times, along with her husband, that the Dems were responsible for job losses in our country, and that "open borders" were allowing cartel drug dealers to pour into our country, among other things.
I did not argue with him, why bother? Like I said, the world doesn't need another partisan political nerd fight and I was never looking for any sort of confrontation on this sunny, doggie adorned, beach boardwalk day.
The one thing, the ONE thing that I said in even, measured tones was the statistic that immigrants, as a whole, have a lower crime rate than the native population. I didn't engage on any other point nor did I ever state my beliefs or who I was voting for.
At the end, I shook his hand and said, "While we might have different political beliefs, you're a good guy."
And . . . he was (glenn1, is that you?)
I'm not trying to make any political point with this story, I'm just relating it. It's a tale from Real Life, which is infinitely more complex and confounding than, say, P&N life. It's confounding to me how this guy, now a third grade teacher in the ghetto, could be so passionately for Trump, but there it is . . . real life.
The last thing I said to him was that I never forget to remain grateful to live in a country where both he and I are free to hold different political beliefs. And I never do. Our country is far from perfect, and, as a country, we have done some horrible things, and, sure, there are strong aspects where I believe we could learn from some other Western democracies how to improve how we treat our own people, but I am eternally GRATEFUL to have been born a white male in the USA.
World wide? That 1%? That's us, baby. Even shorty. ;-))
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