Donuts

I have decided that true Americans eat donuts.

I am writing this blog this morning from a motel in Dallas. Even on trips I cannot sleep late and the Warden "requested" that I find SOMETHING to do rather than turn on the lights or TV at 4AM. So I decided to go find a donut shop and get a cup of coffee. (One thing good about 4 AM in Dallas, there are fewer cars on the road!!) But anyway, as I drove by a strip mall a couple miles from the motel I noticed a donut shop with only one car parked outside.

Once inside I noticed that the glass cabinet was full of various glazed, maple covered, cake, plain or powdered pastries. It was hard to make a selection, but I persevered and selected a maple covered long john. I then poured a medium cup of hot coffee, bought a Dallas Morning News and went to a chair in the corner to enjoy my selections.

This being an election year, the paper was naturally full of articles concerning politically charged events throughout the city, state and nation. In many of those articles were "titles" attached to people’s names. Titles such as "Democratic leader", "Conservative spokesman", "African-American leader", "Hispanic representative" could be found in each article describing or categorizing an individual.

I continued to pretend I was reading the paper as a Caucasian man in a police uniform entered the store. A man of African decent sitting across from me spoke to him concerning some Vietnam War veteran’s benefits. As they discussed the topic, it became apparent that they were friends and very possibly shared some past experiences in the military.

The Caucasian man then walked to the counter and placed his order with the Asian man behind the counter. The Caucasian man ordered a dozen glazed donuts as the Asian owner chided him over his weight with a grin. The Caucasian policeman jokingly said that the Asian owner was going to get more parking tickets if he said any more about his weight.

The Caucasian policeman took his order and turned to leave, almost running into a Hispanic woman who had entered the store on her way to her job. Apologizing for his blunder the Caucasian policeman then asked the Hispanic nurse how she liked her new job at the Medical Center.

The Hispanic nurse then approached the Asian owner and placed her order for some jelly filled Danishes. As the Asian owner filled her order she asked how the new baby was doing. The Asian owner beamed with pride as he related the latest "new baby" story to her.

As you can see from the previous few paragraphs, titles such as these do not help the story. All were concerned of the others wellbeing. There was no need of "titles". What I seen was a mix of ethnicity all coming together as friends, neighbors and Americans without the need of a "Black Leader" or "Asian Spokesman" or "Hispanic Representative" or "Conservative Demagogue" or "Liberal Prolocutor".

Let’s just be Americans!
Dennis