Today's Object Lesson

My good buddy K-nine has a wonderful blog up. Check him out. And since he has linked to me as well, I'm going to have to update this one a little more before his friends find me to be a little slow on the uptake.

On his blog, he told one of his favorite stories about the two of us and some petty larceny at a bar almost 10 years ago (I do believe the statute of limitations has run out. At least I hope so!). But his second favorite story about us is today's object lesson.

When I first met K-nine, he was, by his own description, "a loudmouthed, leather jacket wearin', motorcycle ridin', hard drinkin', 3rd shift workin', womanizing pain in the ass with violent tendencies." Still, we immediately hit it off, despite our apparent surface differences.

Turns out we weren't all that different at all. We were both Eastern North Carolina boys, high school football players, both with strong feelings of family and honor and lots of things about being Southern men from Eastern North Carolina that if you're not from these parts, I just can't explain it to you.

But the point of story is this - we were on my back deck one afternoon, deep into a discussion of the issues of the day, when I dropped a level 4 vocabulary word for which I am known (I don't remember which one). K-nine has always said how impressed he was that I used my big words in front of him, assuming he would know what I meant.

Because, in spite of being a "a loudmouthed, leather jacket wearin', motorcycle ridin', hard drinkin', 3rd shift workin', womanizing pain in the ass with violent tendencies", he was (and is) one of the smartest, most insigtful and well-spoken people I know.

The object lesson, kiddies, is don't judge the book by its cover, nor let your differences divide you. Sermon on morality, diversity, and acceptance is now over.