Archie Bunker Lives At The Diner

Awake early, I checked out and drove up the street looking for a diner before getting on the road for my long drive back home.  Only one was open and it was busy.  I sat in a booth way in back and right across from four guys dressed in clothing that said they worked very hard to make a living just barely adequate for them and their families.  One did most the talking.  They weren’t so sure about Obama, and here’s why.

These addicts and people like that.  They’re just lazy.  They’d rather get high than work and don’t care enough about anything to even get out of bed.  They figure the taxpayers will pick up their tab for living a good life, and Obama is probably a guy who will just go along with that.

And these immigrants.  Sure there were others before them who had it rough, and look at the Japanese, they even got put into those detention camps.  Maybe they were treated poorly, but they put all that behind them and made something of themselves.  This new batch just wants to be on welfare.  They work for almost nothing, and then quit and go on welfare, and that’s where they stay

Obama want’s everyone to get a free ride to college.  Well look at those college kids.  They graduate and then they think the world owes them a living. They don’t want to do hard work. They only want a cushy job for big bucks, and then they squander everything with big houses, cars, boats and all kinds of things they can’t afford.  No one wants a starter house anymore.  No, you gotta have one with a walk-in shower and media room.

We work hard.  We work our butts off.  We’re the ones keeping this place running, and nobody gives a damn.  We’re getting older, and none of those spoiled kids wants the jobs we do.  So what happens when we’re gone?  The place will fall apart, that’s what.

Sitting there in my loafers, tan cords, blue button down shirt and vee neck sweater, I figure I was meant to listen to what they had to say, or at least to what he had to say with the others nodding agreement.  Sure it sounded a lot like Archie Bunker, but it also sounded like four guys honestly worried about themselves, their families, their jobs and their community.  They didn’t like McCain, but they are not so sure that Obama, or anyone in power, even knows they are there and most certainly doesn’t have respect for what they do to keep the fabric of society whole. Their refuge is reverse snobbery, and they’ve developed it to a fine, self-protective art.  I see the same thing around town.  If I go into certain stores in worn jeans, an old flannel shirt and the dirtiest cap I own, I’ll get waited on in seconds in a very helpful way.  If I go into the same place dressed like I was in that diner, I’ll get only the help I vocally ask for, and then in the least amount possible.  It’s reverse snobbery, pure and simple, from people who feel they are invisible to the rich and powerful, and are damn sure going to make them feel invisible in return when they are on their turf.

You want to be a real pastor?  Then learn how to bring the power of God’s reconciling love into the life of Archie Bunker.  I don’t think you can do it if you don’t know something about what Archie does, and show him a little respect while you’re at it.