So....

I stop at McDonald’s for an espresso and in front of me I see this dude in a mini van. I can tell he is smiling and somewhat relaxed, chatting with his passenger while he surveys the menu. I can tell he is a genuinely nice guy.

As he leans out of the window and makes his order with his elbow casually propped on the door he says, “Pohr fuhvoor. Grawseeiss. Day-nawda” –-word for word, just like that. I can’t help laughing because this is the typical, middle-aged, “somewhat-more-progressive-than-his-peers-and-this-is-how-he-shows-it” response to seeing Mexicans anywhere at any time and it’s funny, sad, embarrassing, sweet and precious all at the same time. What I know for sure is that seeing him do this is far, far better than watching people speak slowly and loudly to my father when I was a kid and thinking, “My Dad’s English vocabulary is larger than yours … pretty sure he can understand ‘Turn left on State Street.’”

The Mayor of McDonald’s goes to the first window and again pulls the “Grawseeiss” and adds, as he drives toward window #2, “Hasta Looegoh. Mañana!!” In those five minutes, he has spoken every Spanish word he knows.

And I know that deep down he is happy and self-assured that he has made the World a better place.

The two drive-through attendants, who may or may not be Mexican, are laughing hysterically.