Member-only story
It isn’t at all what I expected
In a semi-empty Panera, ten white-haired, senior men gather around the long table. They are somewhat interchangeable: white or gray hair, slightly pudgy, and dressed for a day of retired life. When they greet each other, it’s often with “How ya doing?” or “How’s the wife this week?”
Every Tuesday between 8:30 and 9:30 in the morning, they meet to discuss current events and life and from my spot in the small corner both, I easily listen in on their conversations over the whirl of blenders and café noise.
Between sips of coffee and bits of breakfast pastries, they discuss the 4th of July Parade shooting. All are distraught and enraged. Several of the men own personal guns, but all are pro-stronger gun control measures. They debate how to get guns off the streets and out of the hands of “bad guys” and how until that’s possible, true gun control can’t happen. They discuss and disagree over the constitutionality of the gun control and the 2nd Amendment.
They don’t name call; they ask for evidence that’s not from a TV show. They don’t yell; they respectfully share opinions and listen. They don’t belittle each other; they offer point and counter-point.
I live not far outside Washington, DC in a purple area. My school district often makes national news for…
