A "Too Close Encounter" Of The Gym Kind--

 


I had what one might call a conversation the other day with a "muscle guy" from Texas here at my Gym. (Here, is in Southern Mexico) Somehow, because he was loquacious, as Texas Boys can be, we got into a back and forth.  He said that he is moving here, but wherever he lives, what's important to him is "liberty" which comes ahead of everything else. I asked him, "do you mean personal liberty for yourself, or for everyone"? He said "personal for me I guess". So, it only took a few seconds to size up where he was coming from. 

After a brief pause,, I just told him that we weren't going to be friends, but in a smiling and mildly courteous way. He asked "and why is that"? I told him that if his concept of liberty meant flying the Confederate Flag, avoiding Federal Taxes, not wearing a mask and having the liberty to spread a lethal virus to family, friends, neighbors, strangers, to carry an automatic weapon publicly just in case a "citizens arrest" needs to be made, (of course he started huffing and puffing at this point but I pressed on) liberty to ban books in school libraries, liberty to deny service to LGBTQ people and Muslims, liberty to deny people of color the right to vote, liberty to overturn election results you don't like, liberty to deny women the free choice to make their own health decisions, then I'll just exercise my liberty to not be friends". All said in gentlemanly fashion with a smile on my face. I figured what's the worst that could happen in front of all those people?

The Americans, Canadians and other English speakers within earshot got quiet and waited to see what would happen next. 

So after listening patiently for a minute, a little stunned at my response, he said, "well, a real live liberal all the way down here, haha". And he smirked and said "I suppose you know better than everybody else what liberty is then, eh"?  At that moment I had the anachronous thought that some of the biggest dumbells in this place were ambulatory and attempting verbal communication.  But I didn't say it out loud, no point in tempting fate. 

I said "yes, I'm free to pick my own friends and talk to people I want to talk to". And he laughed and said "I'm afraid you wouldn't have many friends in Texas", to which I said "you would be surprised, I used to work there". 

And the truth is that this guy was an extremist, and is in a minority even in Texas, which was on the verge of turning blue before Abbott and his cronies rammed through their fascist vote suppression/cancelation legislation this year. He as much told me that's why he's living in Mexico, to get away from people who don't share his views, if he actually has any. Why he thought he would be so free to enjoy his kind of liberty down here is still a bit vague in my mind. 

There was nothing else really to say after that, so I got up to leave. I told him I had some reading to do, pointed to my forehead, and said I had some other muscles I needed to work on. 

Nothing came of it, except that he won't be able to tell anyone that "he owned a lib today".

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