Thursday, April 2, 2015

ride and prejudice









Mr. Levy was a Vice president of Polychrome, and the head man at our new location.  His secretary was Sara, young and attractive, as most of us once were, at least young that is.  Her office was next to his, and it seems her door was always open, and she was strategically placed to see what went on.  All comings and goings went by her office, even trips to the men’s room, and it was rumored she kept notes on all of us.  I had a rule, never date anyone you work with, and although attractive, I had little interest in her.  She came from an old Italian, very Catholic family, and dressed like it.  Quite a difference from the rest of us in our wide lapels, open shirt look just before the disco era.  She was always pleasant, and asked a lot of questions.  Which somehow you felt compelled to answer....We got to be friends, at work, and when I bought my custom van, the 1973 Chevy that Garry Brown had customized for his final project before graduating from Bucknell, she took interest in it.  I was living with my parents at the time due to budget constraints, no money, and she lived with her multi-generational family at home, like I said a very old family.  She had let the word get around she would like a ride in it, and somehow we agreed to go out to dinner, the van as the transportation.  Good girls didn’t ride on motorcycles...but did they in vans?
Picking her up I met a different Sara than the one I knew at work.  Her family was nice, invited me in for a beer, I graciously declined, and as formal as she was at work, she was now attractive and vivacious.  She had gone from professional to attractive.  Did she have a sister I didn’t know about?  So off we went, her asking many questions, mostly about the van, and most of my talking was answers, not questions, or even statements.  Mostly replies.  Dinner at Charlie Brown’s went well, we were actually having a good time, the sun still up on this summer night, and I asked her what she wanted to do.  Too early to go home, both living with our parents, but I did have the van, and she really liked it...so we went cruising in it, which is what she wanted to do.  To be seen in the van, while others jealously looked at her with envy.  Driving Miss Sara if you would.  So off through North Plainfield we went, taking the long way to her house.  No traffic, just cruising when the red lights appeared.  And I was pulled over...for going too slow.  I had a list of ready excuses for going too fast, but none for excessive slowness.  After being told how I was impeding traffic, no cars passed while being detained, and how speed kills....death due to insufficient speed, I can see the headlines now, and left me off with a verbal warning for going 25 in a 30 zone.  But for this innocent girl, this really made me the bad boy she had been warned about, she had never been stopped and it scared her.  She was shaken, and she later settled down, but my reputation as a bad boy now exceeded my riding a motorcycle...I was a law breaker.. a felon at 25 mph.  My ride and prejudice were about to be exploited at work the next day....
Now her girlfriends at work could hardly wait to hear about her date, and when her opening line was the police pulled us over...the imaginations and gossip ran wild.  Instantly a chorus of “I told you he was bad” echoed, some warning her, others wanting a ride.  Tell me more... What is it about good girls and bad boys?  But she never got much further than the being stopped part of the date, and later told me she really had a good time.  Never mentioning her brush with the law.  The last time I ever dated anyone I worked with.  True story, but without the details, it was just another night with police intervention.  And to Sara, I would always be the felon at 25 mph, the slowest man in the van.  Her purity lost for going too slow...go figure.
Today we live in a world of sound bytes, but being misquoted, or not telling the whole story is nothing new.  Started in the Garden, Satan twisting God’s warning to Eve around.  Look at the consequences of a lie.  How many have been told or told others money is the root of all evil?  Not in the Bible, scripture tells us “the love of money is the root of all evil.”  Big difference, money is a form of barter, not evil.. Worshipping it is.  How many have been led astray by asking God for desires, then quoting Philipians 4:13, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”  Read the verses, Paul was bragging about how no matter the situation, Christ would take him through it.  Rich or poor.  In my case slow or fast.  Not a genie in the lamp as some desire, or aspire to.  The most conveniently misinterpreted verse about judging, usually brought up by people caught in sin, who don’t wish to be judged, but it is OK if they judge your words.  But really here Jesus is telling us to be alert, and discern people and their words and actions.  Good advice.  If only the cop had known to “not judge by appearance, but by my fruits,” as scripture tells us, John 7:24 and Matthew 7:16.  What an outcome difference to Sara’s recollection of our date.  And for her audience.
And of course this Good Friday let’s remember Pilate making a sign to hang over Jesus as he hung on the cross.  “The King of the Jews.”  And when the Jews argued, admitting he may have been a king, but not the king, Pilate says “I have written what I have written.”  Not knowing the truth in his statement.  So we do damage to others and ourselves by misquoting scripture.  A good rule of thumb is the 20/20 rule.  Read 20 verses before, and 20 verses after the one you quote, get the whole story.  Don’t base a theology or relationship on just one verse.  Or statement.  Truth be told, I was not a felon, and now laugh about being stopped for going too slow.  Maybe the fact I didn’t get a ticket is the repercussions the cop would have gotten. “Writing a ticket for too slow?  Breaking speed laws by not going as fast as the sign said? Impeding traffic when no other cars are present?”  Thankfully God is always present, and sees all.  And forgives all.  Cops too.
Just another date for me, but an eye opener for Sara.  She knew the truth, yet her interpretation led her to her opening line.  Seeking a thrill, being with a bad boy, but never becoming a bad girl.  But almost, escaping the annals of crime by the skin of her teeth. Her purity intact.  A heroine, how would you have told the story?  How did you hear it?
Remember that when you share Jesus.  Tell the truth, inspired by the spirit.  Too many wanting to hear a lie, or twisting your words.  Let God be God and all men liars.  Even on a first and only date, at 25 mph.   Study to be approved, seek the truth,let it set you free.  And never date anyone you work with.  The walls have ears, and eyes.  And sadly mouths.  Later my boss called me aside, hoping for steamy details of a date in my van.  “Honest Walter, we had a good time.  She is a nice girl.  We got stopped for 25 in a 30 zone.”  I could have said.  But I let him off easy, “that’s the kind of answer a gentleman would never tell about a lady.”  Both our reputations protected.  Only Sara and I will know the truth.  Only the stories have been changed to indict the innocent.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com