I met a guy a few years ago when I moved to Orlando and we hit it off perfectly. He is carefree; I am carefree. We had great conversations and just always had a good time.
He plays guitar in a band and I would come out to see him around the city. We have a great group of friends, all from the service industry in all of the restaurants, hotels and individuals that work at the airport.
One night, he confessed something to me, something he felt he couldn't have told me before that night. In all of the weeks and months, nights at bars and Orlando Magic games. In all that time, he kept hidden a secret, that this particular night, tugged on his soul to reveal.
[Drumrolll and prepare your gasps] He told me he was a Republican. Last night, he text me with the latest revelation.
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This particular night that brought on his confession was a special one. We had endured and run from hurricanes in Orlando. We had spent nights by flashlight, drinking beers, listening to the weather radio station and playing Texas Hold'em, waiting for our lights to be restored. We had cleaned up in our community; we had provided emergency services, assisted our neighbors, listened for updates and collectively cheered when things were restored.
And then Hurricane Katrina. We sat while the impending doom was tracked by the weather channel. We saw the indecision and neglect. We knew how it felt for us to endure what we endured and we were quiet as we watched floating bodies and people with help signs on rooftops and the stadium and other building fill with helpless people.
A caveat. I'm African American; he's white. So, there was always this unspoken, the unpleasantness that some whites have when the issue of race rears its head. There is always this unpleasantness for some blacks when the issuee of race rears its head. So, we watched the characterization of the looters as being black and we were silent. We watched while the majority of those that were helpless were African American and we were silent.
So, when we had the opportunity to start fundraising for Katrina victims, we jumped at the chance. We myspaced people to come out; we got Bennigan's to let his band play. We went to stores and got gift card and merchandise donations. I was the inebriated auctioneer that did a pretty good job getting maximum price for these tiny items. He was given drink after drink and I had to stop him from "stripping for Katrina."
As the night wound down, he and I was sitting at a table and he told me that there was something he had to tell me; I joked that I was happily married. He told me, in all intoxicated seriousness that he was Republican, afraid to tell me because he saw how passionate I was for Howard Dean and how I went on to join the Kerry campaign. I knew the issues. I knew where Dean stood. I registered people to vote in Chili's and Friday's and Bennigan's and anywhere else I went. I wore the Dean t-shirt every Hump day. But finally, finally, he in the spirit of the moment, was able to unburden himself and admit, confess, that he was a Republican.
I told him simply, that it was the era we live in that he felt compelled to keep that from me in the first place. That is the divisiveness of the ruling administration. We had seen each other almost daily for two years before he felt the nerve to tell me. I spent plenty of time bantering with Republicans and Libertarians in public places. I always smile, I always listen and I always bring facts.
Last night, the coup de grace. I received a text from my friend. It said, "I think I am going to support Biden. We need to talk."