Discriminate

“Hey! Hey, man.”

I guess he’s calling me. So I get back out of my car and see the black man walking towards me in the apartment parking lot.

“Jimbo” he extends his hand.

“Joshua” we shake hands.

“Do you play guitar?”

“A little bit.”

“I don’t mean to sound racist or anything . . .”

I was unaware of the stereotype that black people have that young white males play guitar. John the Baptist at work, who happens to be of a darker skin tone, also assumed that I play guitar. But, maybe it’s not that I’m white, maybe I just look like a guitar player.

I was working next to someone from SAGU the other day. I gave a customer her change, $7.24. I told my coworker, “Her change was the same as my birthday, seven twenty-four!”

A couple of customers later a woman bought a six pack. Her total was $7.24. I told my coworker, “Wow, her beer cost the same as my birthday, seven twenty-four.”

He said something like, “Then you have an evil birthday.” His comment was based on the idea that beer is just plain bad.

We talked for a while and he held firm that he planned to never drink beer. But he said that he would probably have wine at his wedding… and dancing.

There is a stereotype in this subculture that beer drinkers are bad people.

Saturday, I mentioned to someone that I went to “church” that morning. He asked if I was Seventh day Adventist. I’m not.

In the A/G bylaws under “Legalism” they state that you shouldn’t add conditions to salvation, such as resting on the seventh day.

When people find out that I keep Sabbath and don’t eat pork they label me as “legalistic” (well, first they ask me if I’m Jewish) and they usually assume that I’m trying to earn my salvation by works. I'm not trying to earn my salvation. I'm trying to obey God.

Stereotypes and double standards. A/G bylaws state that you shouldn’t press your opinions concerning the seventh day onto others. But they also say that you should tithe the way they want you to tithe.

Why are wine and shrimp okay, but beer is bad?

I wonder if Jimbo is good at basketball. But he was kinda short so he’s probably more of a football player.