I'm sure I'll get **** over this but I don't really care.
I'm sitting at a stoplight, fiddling with my phone like every jackass on earth. A truck pulls up next to me but still 6-8 feet behind my door. Then they creep up really slowly. That usually indicates 1 of 2 things. They're "creepers" or they're going to try to get your attention. So I look in a way that's very obvious that I'm looking. It's a young black dude and I don't know him so I go back about my business. Then he pulls up next to me and rolls down his window. I figure he wants to tell me he's a Yankee fan(I have magnet on my tailgate) or that I have a brakelight out(I do) or maybe I cut him off and he wants to give me ****. Anyway, I roll down my window. He says "How you doing, sir? You're my brother and I love you." I'm a bit dumbfounded so I have no idea what to say. As I sit there speechless, the light changes and he starts to pull away. So I come up with a fantastic "OK, man, have a good day!"
So I'm thinking, while that doesn't change anyone's life or the way of the world, that's such a good idea. What if, rather than have our heads down staring at our cellphone with the world blocked out due to the noise in our headphones, more people behaved like that? Especially towards someone from a group you don't really relate to. I'm a middle-age white guy and, outside of the gym, the last time I spoke to a black man in his 20s was probably two years ago.
While I'm not a "You're my brother and I love you" kind of guy, I think that young man was onto something.