{"id":317,"date":"2009-04-28T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com.s96953.gridserver.com\/site\/?p=317"},"modified":"2009-04-28T17:25:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-28T17:25:00","slug":"the-little-old-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html","title":{"rendered":"The Little Old Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little old, Black man came to clean the windows today. \u00a0He did a wonderful job. \u00a0The windows are now sparkling clean. \u00a0Any moment now, a bird might flight right into one of them – or at least, that is how it usually happens on TV…. like the Windex commercial. \u00a0But then again, with my recent clumsiness, I might be the one to walk right into it.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The little old man talked me to oblivion. \u00a0I only heard about 15% of what he was saying. \u00a050% of the time, I was not listening at all, and 35% of the time, I just couldn’t make out what he was saying. \u00a0It might have something to do with him missing about half of his teeth. \u00a0It also didn’t help that most of his speech was in Ebonics. \u00a0Even when I was not giving him eye contact – something that should have told him I was neither listening nor interested – he still went on talking. \u00a0I think he just needed someone to talk to. \u00a0I know he said something about his brother who was in jail for 35 years before being released. \u00a0I might be wrong, but I think he said his brother killed someone. \u00a0Like I said, I might be wrong. \u00a0Understanding the little old man was kinda hard. \u00a0I also know he said something about him having been in an accident. \u00a0And something about six thousand dollars. \u00a0I know for a fact that the little, old man told me he was worth half a million. \u00a0When I didn’t respond or react, he went on to add, “That’s five hundred thousand dollars.”<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span>\u00a0Oh, what I could do with five hundred thousand dollars right now! \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I barely responded to anything he said, but at a point, I was on the phone talking, so he must have detected my accent at that time. \u00a0After the little, old man was done cleaning, and finally ready to leave, he figured he’d ask me of my nationality – even though he was pretty sure he knew already.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Little Old Man:<\/span><\/span> You from Jamaica, right?<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Me:<\/span><\/span> No.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Little Old Man:<\/span><\/span> But you from Africa, right? <\/span>(This implies that he, like so many other people, think Jamaica is in Africa. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Cause we’re all Black?)<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Me:<\/span><\/span> Yes.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Little Old Man:<\/span><\/span> So where you from in Africa?<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Me:<\/span><\/span> Nigeria.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Little Old Man:<\/span><\/span> <\/span>*Smiling a confident smile as someone who knew the exact location of Nigeria*<\/span> Oh, I know Nigeria! \u00a0That in North Africa. \u00a0 \u00a0I come from the North too, but mines at North Carolina. \u00a0They ain’t too far from one ‘nother though.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Most times, I’m ready for the most outrageous comments\/questions about Africa. \u00a0But on some days (like today), I am not quite prepared. \u00a0So I could have told the Little Old Man that North Carolina was nowhere close to Africa, but I was just too tired. \u00a0Besides, the opportunity cost of telling him was too high. \u00a0You see, he was already at the door, his hand on the door handle, ready to leave. \u00a0If I had told him that North America and Africa were not close, he would have taken his hand off the handle of the door, walked right back to me and begun another speech. \u00a0That was too high a price to pay. \u00a0I figured, “Well, he’s an old man. \u00a0He’s probably lived most of his life thinking this way. \u00a0Of what use is it to correct him now?” \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Yes, it was selfish of me. \u00a0But don’t blame me; I’m not as selfless as those from North Carolina. \u00a0<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little old, Black man came to clean the windows today. \u00a0He did a wonderful job. \u00a0The windows are now sparkling clean. \u00a0Any moment now, a bird might flight right into one of them – or at least, that is how it usually happens on TV…. like the Windex commercial. \u00a0But then again, with myRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[171,170,6],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","tag-accents","tag-africa","tag-funny","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Little Old Man - Verastic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vera Ezimora\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html\",\"name\":\"The Little Old Man - Verastic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-28T17:25:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/the-little-old-man.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Little Old Man\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/\",\"name\":\"Verastic\",\"description\":\"Recklessly authentic.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\",\"name\":\"Vera Ezimora\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vera Ezimora\"},\"description\":\"I mean, I'm a lot of things - a Writer, Blogger, Speaker, Vlogger, Content Creator, Storyteller, Truth-Sayer, Milk-Lover, Yogurt-Addict, Entrepreneur, Daughter, Wife, Mom, & Nwa Jesu. 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