Visiting New England

Spent the day in the New England area and I have a pretty healthy back and forth with the people here.

Of course, they all know that I’m from Buffalo so when the Pats were good (when Tommy was there) and the Bills were bad…

…I’d take a bit of a beating.

There’s also the whole Yankees-Red Sux battle…

…so…

…I get greeted the same way I do at home.

“Oh shit. Look who’s here!”

(I enjoy that I’m roundly booed in a wide number of states).

Funny thing happened yesterday though.

“Man, I feel so bad for you in Buffalo,” one guy said. 

It took me a minute.

“Have you ever been to that store?”

“Yeah. Plenty of times,” I said.

“Is it in a predominantly black area?” The guy asked.

“Definitely,” I said. “But the thing about it is that I never once thought about it,” I said. “Everyone is friendly. There isn’t any thought about black or white.”

As I said it, I noticed a second man in the room. A black man.

“Some truly messed up crap,” he said.

They surrounded me a bit, asking questions about the shooting, but also expressing their shock and sorrow for the Buffalo community.

“We bust balls about sports,” the black kid said, “But when it comes to this.”

He didn’t finish.

Yeah.

We should all be on the same side of the issue.

I walked away thinking that people, mostly, are good. We read and hear about the horrors of evil, but the majority of the world wakes up and does the right thing.

Right?

Even Boston fans had something nice to say.

That’s a first!