Joe is an interesting character. He is one of the neighbors and my handyman for many years. In fact, he is like a family member. He is 76 years old but still very funtional. He is Afro-American. He has gone through the civil rights movement, had been to Martin Luther's speeches, served in the Vietnam war, been deputed as a mechanic to 12 countries under the US army. Whenever my mother visits me, he will make an excuse to stop by in his Ford 250 truck to have desi chai and samosas.
During COVID shutdown, whenever I get time from the hospital we hang out together and discuss politics, religion, society, black history in America, and will laugh on inner jokes black people have on brown people. He gets very excited telling jokes and for a moment I feel like I am again standing at a neighborhood corner of Bronx, NY, and dealing with a jovial black boy in his hood.
He is an immensely enlightened person. I asked him: 'Joe what's your take on this COVID business?'
He replied: "I don't know doc! if all this scare is real. You are a doc every day there, you tell me? But one thing I learned that from an individual to society, we all have a Cadillac mentality."
"What's that?'
"We all want to have Cadillac in our driveway, not knowing our house and world is falling apart. We all pay a humongous price for our Cadillac but we don't learn lessons. Doc I have seen many wars. I have seen bombs falling, bloodstains, mothers crying, kids dying and good human beings turning evils when situations get dire. All this because somewhere in the world someone is trying to protect his Cadillac in his driveway, without knowing we all are connected in one way or other".
I said: "Joe! I feel like puffing cigarettes with you today".
During COVID shutdown, whenever I get time from the hospital we hang out together and discuss politics, religion, society, black history in America, and will laugh on inner jokes black people have on brown people. He gets very excited telling jokes and for a moment I feel like I am again standing at a neighborhood corner of Bronx, NY, and dealing with a jovial black boy in his hood.
He is an immensely enlightened person. I asked him: 'Joe what's your take on this COVID business?'
He replied: "I don't know doc! if all this scare is real. You are a doc every day there, you tell me? But one thing I learned that from an individual to society, we all have a Cadillac mentality."
"What's that?'
"We all want to have Cadillac in our driveway, not knowing our house and world is falling apart. We all pay a humongous price for our Cadillac but we don't learn lessons. Doc I have seen many wars. I have seen bombs falling, bloodstains, mothers crying, kids dying and good human beings turning evils when situations get dire. All this because somewhere in the world someone is trying to protect his Cadillac in his driveway, without knowing we all are connected in one way or other".
I said: "Joe! I feel like puffing cigarettes with you today".
1 comment:
Typicak American expression yes I have been aware of this cadillac expression since midseventies when I was in the middle of establishing new CT scanning machine in our hospital
That BTW is a story by itself, the CT scan machines and their values Being a neurologist I was in the forefront of that subject like many other neurologists nationwide.One of my colleagues a neuroradiologist (not common in those days) would tell us about the expenses we had to bear "we have to have it cadillac all the way"
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