Roy Exum
Last week Wanda Dench of Phoenix begin to make her first moves towards this Thursday’s Thanksgiving feast and tapped out a text: “Thanksgiving dinner is at my house on Nov. 24 at 3:00pm. Let me know if you are coming. Hope to see you all. Of course that includes Amanda & Justin.” And then … she misdialed.
In a matter of minutes, a reply came: “Who is this?” She texted back, “Your grandma,” and Jamal Hinton began to study his cell phone. He didn’t know any Amanda and Justin. He also wondered why his grandmother had gotten a new phone number so he texted again, requesting a picture.
Wanda, who is white, complied and then the 17-year-old Jamal, who is black, realized there was indeed a foul-up. He sent his picture to Mrs. Dench “so she could confirm that I am not her grandson and it went from there,” he told a news reporter from CBS AZ. You see, when he sent Wanda an all-telling picture of his face, he couldn’t resist joking, “Can I still get a plate.”
And within seconds came the line: “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone.”
Hinton told the TV station, “With all the Donald Trump going on and all the racial comments going on, it’s kind of good to see there’s still good people out there.”
Hinton’s friends loved it. That’s when one posted the screen shorts between the “newest friends” but, as he did, he didn’t remove Wanda’s telephone number. But Friday the exchange had been re-tweeted 190,000 times and has now been liked by 750,000 people.
It proves, quite profoundly, that all of us are hungry for more than turkey.
“Suddenly I started getting all these texts, saying ‘Can I come too Grandma’ and ‘Do you have an extra plate for me’ and then they really started rolling in and I’m like ‘What’s going on!”
Not surprisingly, the overwhelming number of texts weren’t about food but instead ‘Thanks.’ When it got to 650 she changed her telephone number. “At first I thought this is really annoying until I started reading the texts and people just wanted to say thank you so much, you are such a kind person to let this young man into your home. As I kept reading, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! I think this may be a little more important than I thought … Because of all the racial tension.”
They came from whites “This tweet is what America needs right now” and blacks, even one who goes by the moniker of Communistthugg and delightfully sent his in street language. “Dis lowkey adorable.” The overriding sentiment from all across the country? “This is spectacular grandma!”
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There is another Facebook post that has gone viral. In Addison, Texas, we learn that Natalie Elle Woods was eating dinner with a friend at Snuffer’s Restaurant when she couldn’t help but overhear a conversation in the next booth. “This gentleman was discussing how disgusted he was with his gay nephew for being gay and liberal.”
Natalie heard another say the family should pray to Jesus and ask for Jesus to heal the nephew. Then she recalled the words she heard Michelle Obama say at the National Democratic Convention, “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level,” the First Lady said, “When they go low, we go high.”
So Natalie asked the waitress for the tab of the nearby table and paid it. On the cash register receipt she wrote, “Happy Holidays from the very gay, very liberal table sitting next to you. Jesus made me this way. P.S. Be accepting of your family.”
Before sending the receipt on its way, Natalie took a picture of the receipt and shared it on Facebook in the hope is will spread love. “A lot of Evangelical Christians miss out on the actual message of love and acceptance. Jesus didn’t hang around with politicians and religious leaders. He hung out with people in the community who are looked down on.”
Wow! “Dis lowkey adorable.”
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Frank Martinez, a popular firefighter with Squad Four in Atlanta is terminally ill with cancer and time is very short. As he has talked to some of the boys at the fire hall – they check on him several times a day – Frank has wanted to know about the new heavy duty rescue team truck. He was excited it had finally arrived and, in several conversations, had wanted to know more details about the mammoth life-saving machine.
Last Wednesday, after the 45-year-old learned his Stage 4 disease had advanced, he was being wheeled out of the hospital thought he saw the bright blue light of a Georgia State Trooper cruiser from his wheelchair. When he turned the corner he saw hundreds of First Responders wearing smiles. There were fire trucks from all over middle Georgia, EMT teams, police cars, sheriff’s deputies – well over 100 in all. And at the curb, its diesel purring, was the shiny heavy duty team truck, ready to give Frank a ride back to his house.
It was a parade of emergency vehicles all right, TV cameras and helicopters everywhere, and on every overpass on the way home, fire trucks idled with their booms held high, joined in a grand tribute to Frank Martinez.
In Phoenix somebody might have even said, “Dis lowkey adorable.”
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If you are stealthy, clever, and smart, you just might put some thought to it, between now and Thursday, and the chances are good you can find a Jamal Hinton, a Natalie Elle Woods or a Frank Martinez to share your Thanksgiving dinner. The emphasis ought to be our singles who are elderly but just about anybody would love to laugh with new friends. Again, we are a nation hungry for much more than turkey. Seems to me Thanksgiving is a great place to start the healing.
royexum@aol.com