Have You Heard the One About the Priest?

by Gabe Berman
Gabe is the author of Live Like a Fruit Fly

A priest, a retired meat salesman, a real estate developer and a guy who does business with the Department of Defense walk into a bar.

No, this isn’t a joke.

I was already in the bar and sides were taken. Four conservatives against a liberal.

The priest makes a tongue-in-cheek remark about the president being black. The real estate guy voted for President Obama but now has buyer’s remorse because all of his problems weren’t solved overnight. The meat man lashes out against unions with such venom you’d think he was talking about the Nazis. The D.O.D dude can’t stomach the socialist health care reform.

I tried to have a civil conversation but, as I’m sure you know, there’s no talking to people who must keep themselves closed off to any other points of view. After awhile they just sounded like selfish children who wanted to hoard all the toys and candy for themselves.

What’s the punchline of this non-joke? We’re surrounded by people who haven’t grown up. They’ve just grown old. We will never evolve as a country until we evolve as humans.

“…the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” – Hubert H. Humphrey

By: Gabe Berman

Gabe Berman is a native New Yorker who settled in South Florida after graduating from the University of Miami. An epiphany, a passion, and a trail of breadcrumbs led him out of Corporate America and into the career he was meant for. After eight years of writing columns for the Miami Herald, his book - Live Like A Fruit Fly - was published by HCI Books and subsequently endorsed by Deepak Chopra. His second book, The Complete B.S. Free and Totally Tested Writing Guide, helps artists find their voice and his latest work, Where Is God When Our Loved Ones Get Sick?, uncovers the answer to this haunting question.