Because of a snowstorm in Atlanta many years ago, my connecting flight was cancelled and Delta put me up in a hotel room for the night. The next morning they put me on a flight that had only one seat remaining and it was in First Class. When I sat down this black man was sitting in the next seat with a three foot high stack of newspapers that he was reading. After the flight took off, we had a brief conversation and I asked him where he was traveling to and he responded he was on his way to speak at a college campus. I innocently said, “Are you famous?” He laughed and said, “I’m Dick Gregory”. The remainder of the flight we chatted and while we didn’t agree on one single subject, it was one of the most interesting flights I ever had. He frankly was very cordial and extremely intelligent and when we left the plane, I apologized for disrupting him from finishing his reading materials. He said,” That’s all right, I enjoyed the conversation and I’ll catch up on my reading in my hotel room.” I shook hands with him and I have never forgotten that brief encounter and how extremely nice he was to me, despite our philosophical differences.May he Rest in Peace!
Great story! Thanks for posting.
Just wow.