Back to Salt Lake after home time (finally!)

I met the nicest skinhead yesterday.

His name was Kent, a 40-year-old homeless drifter from Texas.  We met at the Portland Greyhound bus terminal.  He was asking for tips on using the MAX train, which i could not provide, and we struck up a conversation.  I immediately noticed the tattoos on his arms, which includes large Nazi "SS" letters on one arm and a confederate flag with the words "Southern White Pride" surrounding the flag on the other.

While i would usually be repulsed by the tattoos' explicit meaning, i decided to play investigator and asked him the story behind his tattoos.

"Well sir," he said, with impeccable manners and a pleasant tone, "I'm a racist skinhead."  His reply was neither a challenge nor defensive.  It was a simply a friendly answer to my question.  I might as well have asked him for the time of day.  He went on to explain that he has been a skinhead since he was 16, when he was beaten and left for dead by several blacks.  "I've been one ever since," he said.  The son of a Pentacostal minister and raised to love everyone, he also explained that he doesn't go looking for trouble and doesn't instigate violence (although he has in the past), but is ready for it if "anything goes down".  Then he showed me the knife he carries, being careful to explain that the blade is short enough to be legal.

I told him that Portland was very much a "give respect-get respect" sort of town.  He agreed, based upon what he has seen, said people were very friendly and said that he was glad to be here.  I'm not sure that's a good thing, nice personality notwithstanding.  We shook hands and parted company after a few minutes, as he was off on a mission to find pancakes for breakfast.

I have discovered i much prefer to find out what makes people tick to categorically judging them and missing out on a potential learning/growing experience.   Not sure what i learned from Kent, other than not all racist skinheads are bitter, angry people.  I guess that's good.  But they still have abhorrent views....

So why haven't i blogged lately?  Well, things have been busy.  I got to spend about a week at home and had some great times hanging out with the girls (including going to see the Green Lantern movie on Father's Day -- a fun outing for us and the movie wasn't bad). Saw a few friends, and got to hang out with my brother, which was really overdue fun.  Good to take a break from the blog.

On a down note, i picked up the paperwork on my pending divorce.  Looks like it's going to go through, despite my pleas that we not go there yet.  Next step will be divorce court.  Ick.

In Salt Lake City now, after a brutal bus trip of about 22 hours.  Tomorrow i have one final upgrade class to take, then i pick out my truck!  Have found a Medford guy to team with, which i think will be a really good fit.

Guess that's it for now.

Stay safe....   Respect all people.

KWA