Yesterday was Martin Luther King JR. day and I feel as though it is appropriate to tell you all the story of when one of my oldest friends, Nate and I learned the true meaning of this important day…
It was the year 2001. We were all still happy Y2K was horse apples. Savage Garden was still a thing. Hollywood still had a weird love for making comedies with old codgers, (Space Cowboys, The Crew, Out to Sea.) Two young high schoolers were working that day at the movie house on a “hawking” shift. Hawking was when employees would head into the theater with a cart full of soda, candy, and ice cream (Always Melted!) and try a last minute routine to get people to by such snacks for $3 a piece before the movie started. I know this may sound awful, but I always kinda liked it. I don’t have a problem with public speaking or cracking jokes so it came naturally to me. Also, we got a commission. On the right nights, hawking was down right sweet. Especially, when the team consisted of Nate and myself, who have been friends since fourth grade. Nate is a tall skinny guy and I was a short fat guy so the comedy wrote itself…
Ok, so it was MLK Day 2001, (that sounds like a scream-o band name doesn’t it?) Nate and I were on a hawking shift that afternoon which was essentially worthless, since there weren’t any good movies out. Seriously, I looked it up, “The Pledge” came out that weekend. Any of you ever hear of that one? It had Jack Nicholson…Anyone? Ok moving on.
Nate and I walked into “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” which was released to our movie house because of its Oscar hype. There were like 15-20 people in there, not bad considering. We did our routine, which years of drinking has deleted from my memory, and a few people came up to make purchases. One was an older gentleman. He looked as though he had been ill for a while, kinda pale, and had a nasty wheeze as he spoke. As he purchased some candy, two young African American boys came up to the cart. They had to be no more than 10 or 11. They each had a buck in their hands and were asking how much things were. They realized they didn’t have enough, so defeated, they turned to go back to their seats. Then something happened…
The Wheezing old man told the boys to stop, and they could each pick out one candy because, “Today is Martin Luther King JR Day, and we all have to stick together.” Ok go ahead and take a minute, I know you’re feeling a flood of different emotions right now.
Ok, better? Well the kids were very appreciative and everyone went back to their business. Nate said to me as we were leaving the theater, “Did we just learn the true meaning of Martin Luther King JR Day?” I think we did Nate, I think we did…
It’s been 11 years since that happened, and Nate and I will reference the story from time to time. While it’s not really the “True Meaning of MLK Day” that odd yet sincere gesture was an act of kindness, and the good Doctor was a big fan of those…
Minch
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