I recieved this as an e-mail and found it very thought provoking
Having her hair done at a West Hempstead, NY, beauty parlor, a woman
told a cautionary tale about racial prejudice.
On a recent weekend in Atlantic City, the woman related, she won a
bucketful of quarters at a slot machine.
As she was about to walk into the elevator she noticed two men
already aboard.
But racial stereotypes are powerful, and fear immobilized her.
Her face burned.
Then one of the men said, "Hit the floor."
She lifted her head and looked up at the two men.
She thought: My God, what a spectacle I've made of myself.
The next morning flowers were delivered to her room ~ a dozen roses.
It was signed,
This deserves to be told
Sent To: BabyRoseBuds
I wanted to share it with all of you
so I turned it into a url
Please forward to everyone on your list
The story deserves a wider audience.
She took a break from the slots for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room.
But first she wanted to stash the quarters in her room.
"I'll be right back and we'll go to eat", she told her husband
and she carried the coin-laden bucket to the elevator.
Both were black.
One of them was big... Very big... An intimidating figure.
The woman froze.
Her first thought was: These two are going to rob me.
Her next thought was: Don't be a bigot, they look like perfectly nice
gentlemen, even if one of them is awfully black.
She stood and stared at the two men.
She felt anxious, flustered, and ashamed.
She hoped they didn't read her mind but knew they surely did;
her hesitation about joining them on the elevator was all too obvious.
She couldn't just stand there, so with a mighty effort of will she picked up one foot and stepped forward and followed with the other foot and was on the elevator.
Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the elevator doors as they closed.
A second passed, and then another second, and then another.
The elevator didn't move.
Panic consumed her.
My God, she thought, "I'm trapped and about to be robbed!"
Her heart plummeted.
Perspiration poured from every pore.
Instinct told her: Do what they tell you.
The bucket of quarters flew upwards as she threw out her
arms and collapsed on the elevator carpet. A shower of coins rained down
on her.
Take my money and spare me, she prayed.
More seconds passed.
She heard one of the men say politely, "Ma'am, if you'll just tell us
what floor you're going to, we'll push the button."
The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out.
He was trying mightily to hold in a belly laugh.
They reached down to help her up.
Confused, she struggled to her feet.
"When I told my man here to hit the floor," said one of the men (the average sized one), "I meant that he should hit the elevator button for our floor.
I didn't mean for you to hit the floor, ma'am.
" He spoke genially.
He bit his lip.
It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing.
She was too humiliated to speak.
She wanted to blurt out an apology, but words failed her.
How do you apologize to two perfectly respectable gentlemen for behaving as though they were robbing you?
She didn't know.
The 3 of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.
When the elevator arrived at her floor they insisted on walking her to her room.
She seemed a little unsteady on her feet, and they were afraid she
might not make it down the corridor.
At her door they bid her a good evening.
As she slipped into her room she could hear them laughing while they
walked back to the elevator.
The woman brushed herself off.
She pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband.
Attached to EACH rose was a crisp one hundred dollar bill.
The card said:
"Thanks for the best laugh we've had in years."
Eddy Murphy
Michael Jordan