The Dow Is Up!

I like to think of myself as a liberal and progressive person. There’s a black woman who sits near me at work. On the shelf above her computer is a wedding picture. Of two white people. For the first few weeks I worked here, I wracked my brain trying to come up with a reason why this black woman would have a wedding picture of two white people. And this is where my liberalism and progressivism (it’s a word, trust me) comes in.

I start making up stories in my head about how she came to have this picture. I’m thinking that maybe she’s part of a multi-racial family. Or maybe one of her parents re-married and now she has white step-siblings. Or maybe it was her college roommate. Or her best friend growing up. Just because *I* didn’t know any black people growing up (seriously, there were only 4 in my high school), it doesn’t mean that other people don’t. This is America after all. It’s the great melting pot. Black people SHOULD have white friends. In fact, I started mentally applauding this woman, not only for having white friends (or family members), but for having a picture of this white person getting married showing prominently at her desk. Good for her. Good for society. Good for everyone. Good for me.

So today, I found out that this black woman was just borrowing the desk. The real “owner” of the desk was out on maternity leave. She came back today. She’s white. It’s her wedding picture. D’oh.