Minority Rule

The kid's got a fistful of fliers or coupons or something, and he's right there. Totally unavoidable. A German could avoid it. They can look straight through people when they want to. But for a small town American the encounter is unavoidable. It's like I can't not make eye contact with him. So I do and he's all smiles and jumps into this sales pitch that I don't understand a word of.

I tell him he's got to slow down, my German's not very good, and now he's curious.

Where are you from?

America.

(Rough translation) Really? Wow! I never would have guessed! You look just like a German at first glance!

Then he asks me all kinds of questions. What am I doing here? How long will I live here? What part of the city do I live in? Do I like it here?

And then he says something like, "This made my day, I've never met an American before."

My entire life I've been a member of the majority. Majority religion, majority race. Heck, at my university I belonged to the majority gender. But of all of my majorities, the one that has always been the most unremarkable was my nationality. And here's some kid telling me how cool it is to meet an American.

And I'm thinking this is pretty cool.



JEM