Target With Kenneth
I was roused from a wonderful little nap after I did a bunch of hospital visits by the doorbell ringing over and over and over and over. Outside it was Kenneth, the young man who always comes to church looking for money of some sort or another, always with some excuse as to why his life is upside down and not altogether. Today he woke me up and when I went down to see what he wanted I also decided I need to make a trip to Target to get some food, read Starburst, for my office. So I off and walked to Target with Kenneth, talking about life, people, church and all sorts of things.
Kenneth seemed to know everyone in the skyway, and said hello to everyone, it was fun. When we got to Target, he and waled around the food section, and every step we took was monitored by a policeman or a Target guard, twice an alarmed Target employee raced to the aisle we were in, eyes wide, out of breath, stared at us for a moment and then walked away. Kenneth was quite unfazed by it all, and miraculously, so was I. It was interesting. Here I was in my collar, walking next to a black man who clearly is a known commodity of some sort to people, whether as a friend and acquaintance or something else entirely.
At the check out I was asked by the cashier, "Are you a Rev.?" A small voice inside of me wanted to be extraordinarily sarcastic and maybe a little mean, I did have my collar on after all, but I resisted and said, "Yup! I am the priest at Gethsemane Church down the street, 9th and 4th, you should come by and check us out!" That lead to a long conversation this time with the manager of the store silently pleading with us to move along, stop talking already and get out of the store!!! It was funny.
Life in Downtown Minneapolis, I love it!
Be well,
A+
Kenneth seemed to know everyone in the skyway, and said hello to everyone, it was fun. When we got to Target, he and waled around the food section, and every step we took was monitored by a policeman or a Target guard, twice an alarmed Target employee raced to the aisle we were in, eyes wide, out of breath, stared at us for a moment and then walked away. Kenneth was quite unfazed by it all, and miraculously, so was I. It was interesting. Here I was in my collar, walking next to a black man who clearly is a known commodity of some sort to people, whether as a friend and acquaintance or something else entirely.
At the check out I was asked by the cashier, "Are you a Rev.?" A small voice inside of me wanted to be extraordinarily sarcastic and maybe a little mean, I did have my collar on after all, but I resisted and said, "Yup! I am the priest at Gethsemane Church down the street, 9th and 4th, you should come by and check us out!" That lead to a long conversation this time with the manager of the store silently pleading with us to move along, stop talking already and get out of the store!!! It was funny.
Life in Downtown Minneapolis, I love it!
Be well,
A+
Comments
I just wanted to leave a comment somewhere as well.
Justin