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There is Only One Kind of Bean

Four guys are taking their lunch break.  Averagely dressed but still somewhat out of place. They are not on “their” side of town. They walked into a high-end RV store and begin mulling around looking at this and that, trying to kill an hour of time before they have to go back to work.

Of course a salesman approaches and ask, “Can I help you?

The man's response like many non buying customers is, “No, I'm just looking.

Feeling somewhat frustrated, the salesman walks away and under his breath says, “Huf,  whatever. Chalking it up to a bad day, the guy blows It off.

Across the store his friend is having a great time checking out this nice hammock that's just been released to the public. Bluetooth this rain, rain cover that and jokingly he says, “Man if my hammock at home was like this, I'd have stayed there.

Another saleswoman approaches him and again asks, “Can I help you?”

The man sensing her tension, like his friend, says “Just looking”.

Another salesperson passing by interjects, “Should you even be in this store”.

The guy getting out of the hammock cocks back with, “I've got money and I like camping, so yeah! I think I deserve to be here! The salesman continues to walk away.

The third guy from the group who is just been admiring a new battery powered panini maker has been watching what's happening. Somewhat annoyed with the situation, his mischievous side has decided his lunch tacos need warming. The first salesman approaches him, “Sir what are you doing”.

The guy says,”I like this thing, just wanted to see how well it really works. Being battery powered and all, I figured I'd test it out on my lunch”.

The salesman, more emotional now, says, “I think it's about time “you” people leave”.

The fourth guy who has simply been enjoying his time out of the sun, seated in a reclining fold-away chair, abruptly stands and says, “Wait a minute, ‘You people!’. I'm sorry Sir, but now I  think you’re in the wrong place. As a matter of fact, I think maybe even the wrong place and time. You see, I remember when it was people like you telling my mom, ‘You people need to leave’ and kicking her and I out to the street at a laundromat in our new neighborhood when I was little.

The second salesman joins the commotion from his desk by saying, “Hold up, I'll bet one of you is in my delinquent file”, and begins to call out names.  

As he read the second name, “Jose Flores” a man at the door stops and says, “Excuse me? Yes that's me.”

The salesman, puzzled by the fact doesn't skip a beat and immediately begins his reprimand, “You were actually in the store and you were not going to make a payment.”

Mr. Flores begins to make his way back in and the look on his face as he's walking is formulating his reason.

The first guy of the four men group with a raised voice says, “Hold on here! Did you just racially profiled this whole store right now! That man ain't got nothing to do with what's happening here and now you've got him on the defensive and about to explain why he's a little late on his bill! Let me explain something to you, all people have money problems maybe not so much in the white and blue collared world you live in but for us no colored workers it's something we manage.  We'd like all this shit in here too!  Can we walk in and drop a wad on it?  No!  Do we make the sacrifice to try and enjoy what we can with what we have? Yes!. So I'm sorry if your position of privilege and abundance has caused you to somehow malformatively see the world as us and them. But the last time I checked fucker, there are no red beans and white beans, no brown beans or black beans or yellow. There is only one kind of Bean and that's a human bean! We are all like-minded creatures extending somehow from the same gene pool!  When you’re were a kid and saw a bird you'd say, ‘Hey Mom / Dad look at that bird.’  It's only as you got older and were you ill educated or badly influence that you began to say, ‘Look at that niggar, fuck  that spic, no good white trash.’ And in that lies our problem.”

And as those words are being spoken, I am awakened by my wife, telling me, “Babe I'm leaving for work, love you.” Three kisses and she's on her way.

I believe our dreams serve a purpose.  Some help us to confront our daily reality fears, some wake us to the fact of our lives and what we often take for granted. Today mine told me, wake up and do your little part to change what you can in this big world.  

To some this message will fall on deaf ears but I can't shake the image of an elderly lady with  the embodiment of all my grandmothers telling me, “Somos del mismo frijole.” In English it means, we are all of the same bean.