A good story to leaven the darkness
Bookworm on Dec 20 2009 at 11:52 pm | Filed under: Anti-Semitism
I am deeply bummed by what’s happening in the Senate, but day-to-day, life still goes on. So I’ll pass on to you a story I received in today’s email:
On a Northwest Airways flight from Atlanta , GA , a well attired middle-aged woman found herself sitting next to a man wearing a kippa (“yarmulke” in Yiddish). She called the attendant over to complain about her seating.
“What seems to be the problem, Madam?” asked the attendant.
“You’ve sat me next to a Jew!! I can’t possibly sit next to this strange man. Please find me another seat!”
“Madam, I will see what I can do to accommodate,” the attendant replied, “but the flight is virtually full today and I don’t know if there is another seat available.”
The woman shoots a snooty look at the snubbed Jewish man beside her (not to mention the surrounding passengers).
A few minutes later the attendant returned and said, “Madam, the economy and club sections are full, however, we do have one seat in First class.”
Before the lady had a chance to respond, the attendant continued, “It is only for exceptions that we make this kind of upgrade, and I had to ask permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that no one should be forced to sit next to an unpleasant person.”
The flight attendant then turned to the Jewish man sitting next to her, and said: “So, if you’d like to get your things, Sir, I have a comfortable seat for you in First class.”
At this point, the surrounding passengers stood up and gave a standing ovation while the Jewish man walked up to the front of the plane.
The lady then said indignantly, “The Captain must have made a mistake….” To which the attendant replied, “No Ma’am. Captain Cohen never makes a mistake.”
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7 Responses to “A good story to leaven the darkness”
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Most likely apocryphal, but one that relates a larger truth. Fake but accurate? Which reminds us of another tale. While Dan Rather expected real life consequences from his National Guard tale, such as Dubya’s shaming and electoral defeat, because he believed it to be literal truth, no such real life consequences are expected to directly flow to the characters in this tale. There is no name and address attached to the idiot lady to which readers could send notes of scorn, for example. It is a modern day Aesop’s tale which instead of having Equus africanus asinus as the leading character, the leading character is a human being who merely acts like a member of the species Equus africanus asinus, a.k.a. jackass. (Yes, I know the jackass is the male, but in these days of women’s liberation, we need to be aware that women can assume roles traditionally assigned to men.)
I would have liked the story a lot better if the captain’s name was O’Malley.
As it is, it’s a tale of tribal loyalty and no more……
Earl – Sure, it’s a joke (and a good one!) about tribal loyalty but it is also about something greater: someone standing up and putting someone in her place who desperately needed it. And that is something that lots of us little guys can get behind.
As it is, it’s a tale of tribal loyalty and no more……
Since the surrounding passengers applauded, the real cautionary tale is that it was only the Jewish man, who was first class – They were flying Northwest Airlines not El Al.
Good point, Sadie – and not one I’d thought of. My comment had to do strictly with the captain, but the reaction of the rest of the passengers really does make it more generally applicable than the “tribe”. Since it *is* apocryphal, I’d still prefer the captain to be named O’Malley, or Abildgaard….or maybe Chang!
I take the “Captain Cohen” part of the anecdote as, “If you think SITTING NEXT to a Jew is bad, just mull over the face that, for the rest of the flight, you’re being CAPTAINED by a Jew!” (Who, by the way, totally outranks you, and can order you around should you make any further scenes.)
@Mike – maybe….but her discomfiture in the story is discovering that SHE isn’t going to be moving to first class – instead, it’s the guy she disdained who gets the special treatment….and then we find that he and the captain belong to the same “tribe” (it would work as well with two Irish, or two Russians, or…or…or – just in case someone has a problem with the term). I didn’t get any sense that the joke has to do with being flown in a plane captained by a Jew….that probably *is* a problem for her – just not the one the joke is dealing with. At least, that’s how it looks from here.