Stereotypes R Us
A few weeks ago I was down on Aurora Blvd. getting a radio put in our car. Aurora is a stretch of strip malls that runs from Seatac airport in the south, all the way to Everett in the north. It could be described as a ‘working area’ since some of the men are working and there are lots of ‘working women’ on the street.
I had a few hours to kill while waiting for my car, so I walked down to a St. Vincent De Paul thrift store where I bought several low cost treasures and trinkets. I even got a first edition copy of Black Beauty for $5. Carrying my loot in several St. Vincent de Paul bags, I made my way up Aurora, until I saw Sunny’s Teryaki, where I went in for lunch.
Setting my bags on a table, I heard the owner yell at me, “No use bathroom, unless you buy something!” I assured him that I was there to eat lunch and I had the money to pay for it- no problem.
As I was sitting and beginning to eat my spicy chicken and rice with a nice side salad, the owner came out to see me and placed a long thin blue card on the table in front of my plate. Glancing at my thrift store bags, he said confidently, “This will help you with your problems!” I glanced at the card and it had a list of about a dozen AA groups that were meeting in the area.
Assuming it was just a good-natured misunderstanding, I thanked him for his thoughtfulness and continued eating my way too spicy chicken. By now I’m pretty sure my face is turning red and I’m sweating through my shirt from the hot peppers. About 10 minutes later he returned to my table. “You have girlfriend or wife?” He asked.
Yes, I assured him that I’ve been married to Eileen for several decades. Without pausing to listen, he quickly pointed to the bottom part of the blue card and said, “This will help her with her problems!” Glancing down to where he pointed, I saw the Narcotics Anonymous groups and their meeting times.
Smiling, I thanked him, then just to clarify I pointed out that despite my thrift store bags and the fact that I was walking along the street, I wasn’t an alcoholic and Eileen was definitely not a drug addict, though I did appreciate his attempts to be of help. He just rolled his eyes and said, “yeah, sure but this could really help you with your problems.” As he walked back into the kitchen.
Just then I thought of the church!
How often do we presume people’s needs without taking time to get to know them as people? Perhaps our evangelism is so impotent because we are giving answers to questions that are not being asked, while trying to fix problems that may not exist.
Now that I have been profiled and stereotyped and written off as a hopeless indigent, I regret that Sunny missed a chance to get to know me. Who knows he might have been able to help me with one of the many real problems I do have!
