Indian Country

Twenty five years ago I found myself in Indian Country. Yeah, how is a westerner ever not in Indian Country? Well, I was in Baltimore, Maryland working in a grocery store in an area in town referred to as "slum soup". The store was owned by a stereotypical Jewish merchant and my responsibility was the cereal aisle. I rode the bus to and from work and worked all day for peanuts in the grocery store.

It was quite scary as it was predominately a poor neighborhood with mostly a black population. The kid who worked the next aisle over was from the neighborhood. He took me under his wing and taught me the grocery gig not to mention the ways and means to navigate and survive in the "hood". The kid was gregarious and genuine towards all. No one messed with him at all or me when I was in his company. I was accepted in the street due to my affiliation with him. We listened to Billie Holiday who was born and raised in Baltimore.

One day I sliced my hand badly with a box cutter and he was right there to fix up the poor white boy. I cannot, for the life of me, remember his name. I wish I could but maybe it doesn't matter. He saved my life and I learned alot from him about ignoring skin color and loving the person. Thanks, man...

Affiliation

Society seems intent on categorizing people in many different ways. Society tries to use race, religion, ethnic background, height, weight, eye and hair color, shoe size, etc., ad nauseum. One may be put into the "good box" or the "bad box". One's politics may label a person whether they lean left or right.

I came up with the only real cogent method of categorizing people as a small child. Quite simply, there are "long-heads" and there are "round-heads". My father was a "long-head" and my mother was a "round-head". Of my siblings: Lorin, Susan, Charlotte, and Lissa are "round-heads" while Loralyn, Justin, Jeanie, Michael and myself are "long-heads". This mix happens quite often with diverse parents. My wife and I are both "long-heads" hence all three of my sons are "long-heads".

Throw all the other labels, categorizations and "boxes" out the window with the bad air. There are only "long-heads" and "short-heads".

I should have gotten royalties for the Charlie Brown cartoons as they came long after my epiphany.

But then I find that the author, William Samuel Sadler, wrote of "Long heads and round heads; or, What's the matter with Germany" back in 1918. The categories can also be interpreted as "Alpines" and "Nordics". Who woulda' thunk it.

I guess that just goes to show you that L.A. Police Detective Charlie Crews was right when he said, "The Universe makes fun of us all" and "It IS all connected"...(Crews is a long-head and his partner, Reese, is a round-head).