This past Tuesday, I “freeloaded” some of the salad that my friends got with their meal at the local Olive Garden. As I ate my free salad, and my friends consumed their shrimp scampi, we began to discuss Michelle Obama. My friend, Danielle, and I were trying to convince our other friend that she should be President.
“She can do a one-armed pushup with Barack Obama on her back,” I said. We laughed and continued to eat our “Italian” food.
A voice from behind us caught our attention.
“Are you kids in college? Are you voting for Trump?” A woman behind us had overheard, and was trying to engage in our conversation with us. Hilary Clinton had not been mentioned at this point in time, as we had been joking, and had been minding our own business.
Danielle nonchalantly told the woman that she wasn’t sure who she was voting for. The woman replied that she was a proud supporter of Donald Trump, because if she didn’t, America would inevitably come to its end.
At this point in the conversation, my friends and I exchanged uneasy glances with each other. I said nothing. Our other friend said nothing. Danielle was the only one to reply.
“You’re entitled to your opinion, we were having a conversation,” Danielle said. With that, this story should have ended.
“I am all for the Big T. And you know what? F the Muslims. Praise Jesus,” she twirled her wine.
I wish that I could tell you I am making this up as some form of liberal propaganda. I wish that I was fabricating this whole story and this woman is all something I made up to convince you that Trump supporters are big, bad hillbillies. Unfortunately, what I am conveying was a candid account of experience at an unremarkable chain restaurant.
At this point, I turned away from the woman. We all tried to act as if that had not happened, hoping that the woman would calm down. The woman continued to berate us. Upon her repeating the phrase, “F the Muslims,” I got up from the table to speak to a manager about kicking this woman out. After I left, the woman chose to personally attack Danielle.
“I don’t know where you and your immigrant parents came from, but you need to go back to wherever the hell it was.”
I did not hear this woman say this, I was spared the full magnitude of this woman’s ignorance and bigotry. I have read stories about similar racist obscenities being thrown at innocent people. But even hearing the little part of the conversation that I did disturbed me deeply. Seeing it directly hurt someone that I have known for fifteen years, ripped my heart out.
I’m featuring a picture of Danielle and I from 2013. We have been best friends since the age of five. Obviously, I’m a fine shade of eggshell. Danielle is tan and has dark hair. She looks like my friend, and even more obviously, she looks like a human being. Do not use this election, or anything, as a justification to hate people. There is no excuse.
At the end of the day, I don’t care about politics. Whether you’re a flaming liberal or a staunch conservative doesn’t matter. More than anything else, I care about people. I care about being kind to others, and being just.
When you treat people with the kind of animosity that that woman displayed, you are not being kind or just. You’re being garrulous, uniformed, and frankly cruel. You’re completely neglecting to acknowledge another person’s humanity and completely destroying your own in the process.
The manager of Olive Garden never came to our table, nor did she ask the woman to leave. There’s really not very much that they could have done, but I resent the fact that they did nothing when one of their customers verbally attacked another. Upon leaving, the vile woman told Danielle that she would be praying for us.
If I prayed, then I would pray for her. Though she is vapid and lacks empathy, she is still a human. I would also pray for anyone who faces this type of harassment on a regular basis, for them to keep their strength in the face and for them to be kept out of harm’s way. I would pray for the bystanders in the restaurant and the staff who chose to do nothing about the situation.
And finally, if I prayed, I would selfishly pray for my own sanity, which I find slowly slipping from me due to people like that woman. People like her are no longer an exception, they are once again becoming the rule.
