20 cent books

Today I went to the thrift store where I did my community service. I saw Bea, one of my favorite people. She is a retired nurse and Vietnam Vet, who works part time for the store (a branch of a local non-profit organization). Bea is a very funny, loving, but stern woman. She loves animals, and as stated by herself, will bludgeon anyone who abuses an animal. I was lucky enough to get on her good side, near the beginning of my court-ordered 280 hours stay at the store. So was this guy named Sean. Often times, especially on a Saturday, Bea would let us sit back in the loading area with her and talk in between the sporadic junk drop-offs. One of the other community service workers would come back there and she’d say “Go Sweep The Floors!” or something similar. She could be really scary. I loved listening to all her stories. Among these were stories of when she was a nurse in Vietnam. She was a multiple-amputee nurse during the war. Among her patients were Max Cleland, and according to her (heard from the other men in his unit at the time) the whole “he picked up a dropped grenade” story is bunk. That the true story is along the lines of fratricide, apparently he was a real prick. Anyways, I really enjoyed seeing her today. And seeing her big smile as she said “Hey Kid!”

At the store I bought a bunch of books, ten for two dollars! I’ve run out of horror novels to read, so that was my mission. I found six, and the other four were picked because I had recognized the titles and figured it was about time I read them. Just a few minutes ago I was digging through the covers of these books to see if anything struck my interest. One of the stories, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, I bought because I’ve heard people throwing around phrases like “he’s an uncle tom.” I don’t technically know who ‘Uncle Tom’ was or what the book is really about. I’ve heard some praise and criticism, and thought I’d figure it out for myself. In Stowe’s introduction, a passage really kind of jolted me, and speaks of the ignorance of people even when they think they are well-meaning:

“When an enlightened and Christianized community shall have, on the shores of Africa, laws, language, and literature, drawn from among us, may then the scenes of the house of bondage be to them like the remembrance of Egypt to the Israelite,-a motive of thankfulness to Him who hath redeemed them!”

Stowe was pro-colonial, and to say the very least about the subject, we all know that some huge mistakes were made by the Western world in regards to colonialism in Africa and the Caribbean. It should be interesting to read this having a 21st Century perspective on both American and International politics and history. I find great irony in the fact that one of the other books I bought today is “Cry The Beloved Country” by Alan Paton. This book speaks of the 'desperation of South Africa' under apartheid.
Hmmnn. How bout them apples.