�I felt like they were asking me to condone him in my place of worship. It�s one thing for me to be out there,� I nodded to the outside window, �but to ask me to go out and campaign in church? I couldn�t make that jump. I did not want to have those two worlds mesh, you know?�

�I look at it the same way you look at torture,� I say to a re-emerging Dr. Kerber, turning my attention from his wife to him. �Remember the classes you�d talk about how it�s about who we are, as a nation, and whether or not we want to turn toward evil to accomplish potential good. I see his policy with drones the same way and I didn�t want to have to condone that shit�� I cut myself off and covered my mouth sheepishly. I glanced around the elderly Jewish couple�s kitchen, taking note of the many African-themed artifacts decorating their home. Necklaces with fastened with beautiful jades and rubies to one side, creepy skulls and eerie masks to the other. �I�m sorry�for cursing, you know. I didn�t mean to.. you know,� I said aloud, more so to her than him.

�I wouldn�t condone that shit either,� Alessandra said with a smirk. �So the question now becomes��

�Al, have you offered Jonathan anything to drink? I bet he wants coffee,� Dr. Kerber says as he takes a seat, having put Ted the dog outside. �And maybe a biscuit or two.�

�I�m actually not much of a coffee drinker. I would love some water, though.�

�Are you sure you don�t want coffee, Jonathan? I�m sure you want coffee. Al, go ahead and brew some coffee.�

Mrs. Kerber rolled her eyes and stood up.


I�m really not much of a coffee drinker. I jokingly refered to the beverage as the white man�s potion while campaigning because it seemed as though my co-workers could not function without it. Or, at least, they felt they couldn�t. In fact, the last time I drank coffee was maybe a week or so before I left the campaign.

Every morning before work I would go to a corner market in downtown Charlottesville to buy a handful of clementines. On this particular day, I bought an entire bag � maybe it was payday or something. Anyway, I left the bag on my desk, unopened, and went to the caf� next door.

Six or seven of my co-workers gathered around my desk when I came back to my office, eating my clementines. My pal Leah said that as white people, they were just exericising their natural inclination to colonize my desk.


�So the question becomes now,� Mrs. Kerber continued, �what do you do now? You can�t continue living on Amy�s couch.�

�I�m actually already off of Amy�s couch,� I neglect to tell them that I�m currently sharing a bunk bed at a hostel. The dude who sleeps below me tickles my feet when I snore to wake me up. �Sorry, mate, it�s just�you know, you sound like a triceratops,� he told me the first night. How he knew what sound a Triceratops didn�t strike me as odd at 3 AM in the morning so I just shrugged and went back to bed.

�And I�ve got a plan. I�m applying for jobs now, in D.C., New York, California� I reckon I�ll just stay in the District for a few days, then make my way West.�

�I�ll figure it out,� I hear myself say once more. �Don�t really have a choice, really.�

�Do you regret choosing to resign over going to church?�

�No. I thought I was doing the right thing, you know? I just� didn�t know that doing the right thing would also mean doing the dumb thing.� I sighed and sunk deeper into the chair. For a moment, I wished I actually were a triceratops � they know what their mission in life is: eat, sleep, and procreate. Come to think about it, Triceratops and the Snookie have a lot in common.

�I think I�m on the right path� I just wish that I knew I was doing the right thing in life right now.�

�The ultimate goal in life is to see life as it is as beautiful at the same time,� Dr. Kerber says after taking a sip of his coffee.

�Yeah, I�m not there yet. There�s just so much .. fucked up shit everywhere. Hatred, disenfranchisement, rape, genocide� when you�re a kid you don�t know none of that shit, right? But then you become exposed to it � you see what life truly is for a lot of people around the world. How can that be beautiful?�

�That�s the test, Jonathan. You have to find the beauty in life, while still recognizing all that you described is also a large component of the human condition as long as you�re cognizant of it� and then still see the world as a beautiful place.�

�.. Well, damn.�

They ate your food without asking? Wtf?
» randomjunk on 2013-02-14 12:33:58

Sounds like you have a bad case of Weltschmerz, mon ami.

And you hate white people, don't you. I knew it. You should move to France, where skin color doesn't matter unless you're an Arab or a gypsy.

ps - La vita è bella.
» Zanzibar on 2013-02-14 06:35:34

That sucks... and Yes. Working for the happiest place on earth is hell. So far, I hate this job more than any other I've ever had in my young life. Behind the scenes it is so unprofessional.
» Midnight on 2013-02-14 12:11:37

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