Matters of Race: The Eavesdropper

Folkert and I took the metrorail up and down Cape Town several times over the Christmas season. Not only was it efficient transportation, it also provided for us time to chat, talk and discuss... So obviously, after several days a topic that was at the centre of our discussions on one of those train rides was the issue of race. How people were responding to us, how they were responding to ME walking with Folkert; how they were responding to FOLKERT walking with me!

After talking at lenghth, and me being secure that, racially, things are as they seem; our jaws dropped when an eavesdropper, a White guy might I add, walked up to us holding up a picture of his bi-racial girlfriend, 'You don't have to live in the past! Look! This is my girlfriend for the past ... years. Things were like that but you don't have to live in the past!'

If my memory serves me correctly, he had tears welling in his eyes. It happened to be his stop and off he went. It really got us thinking, we have had some bad experiences, we have had some weird experiences and we have had very many good experiences. This guy gave us a good insight, it's not all about the experiences...we do have a choice, we can choose to LIVE today.

Cheerio.

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