Yesterday, we returned to New Orleans because we wanted to cook a roast leg of lamb for Easter dinner. Since the Winn-Dixie Supermarket closed down, we no longer have a place to buy good meat here in town.
We went to the Whole Foods Market in New Orleans and spent a whole lot of money on meat and imported and exotic stuff which we can't buy here. The butcher at the counter where we bought our meat was a not-young black man, who lost three houses in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, his own house and two rental houses. He is fixing his house and going back there to live. He said, "Ive lived there 40 years." What courage.
All the while we were talking, he was calling me "Baby". "Yes, Baby. Is this what you want, Baby?" I thought to myself, "Where else but in New Orleans will you find a perfect stranger of a man who calls you "Baby" and means nothing familiar or disrespectful by it"? It's a great place full of great and courageous people, and I am proud that it is my home town.
Hey, baby, you got it right. Where else in the world but the South can you be called "Missy" at age 80 or "sweetie" by the cashier at Golden Corral? And, where else does a 60 year old say, Yes Ma'am to a 20 year old who is helping her?
ReplyDeleteIn spite of the segregation and discrimination of years past, I sometimes think we are more ONE in the South than other places in the world.
Share Cropper, baby, I suppose that I could have widened my territory for praise. It ain't all bad in the South, is it?
ReplyDeletewhat a great town. New Orleans really is a great place.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Dennis, baby!
ReplyDeleteOne of my daily spiritual disciplines is trying to be open to see God's presence in others.
ReplyDeleteA lot of times it feels like a chore. Sometimes it is a source of incredible, heartbreaking joy.
I love the idea of God serving us while calling us "baby" with tender respect.
Nina, baby, the butcher was a wonderful man. He was so lively and cheerful, in spite of all his troubles.
ReplyDelete