George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Neil Armstrong, and every person from generations past who made the present possible are looking down proud at this moment.
This beautiful, fragile veteran was beaten, and held at gun point this past week. He doesn’t have much family left, and I’d love to show him that the community actually cares! 🤍
If anyone is interested in sending a Get Well Card and/or anything hunting, fishing, or coffee-related that would be amazing. He’s also a retired vet from the Navy!!!
You can send at the following address:
Papa Mathis
1472 Valley Ridge Dr W
Gallatin, TN 37066
Little story. My @AmericanAir flight from Charlotte was cancelled last night. Weather. It happens.
But on this particular occasion, I had booked first class (normally I’m fine with coach but given I just had immunotherapy treatment and my abdomen is all swollen and am feeling sick, I wasn’t looking for the sardine experience).
Now hang with me because I promise this isn’t just a complaint post.
Spend an hour in assistance line. Am finally told by curt white woman at desk that all the flights in the morning don’t have first class available. But she hastily says she will put me in the best available coach seat and will also put me at number one on the waiting list and hustles me off.
(I can see on my app there are a number of coach options at that point so I don’t really pay attention and just let her book it and take my paper boarding pass and turn my attention to booking a hotel for the night.)
In the morning, it occurs to me to look at seat map and I see she has not only put me in a middle seat, it’s in the back. So she most certainly did NOT pick best available seat.
And not only am I NOT number one on the waitlist, I’m not on the waitlist at all. So she just kind of lied to me all the way around.
Again, normally not a huge deal, but if nausea should hit mid flight, I’d rather not puke next to two people and my abdomen is tender from where I received my injection. Plus high group number means I’ll probably have to wait the hour at baggage claim at Charlotte (Charlotte baggage claim is always notoriously slow.) Sigh.
I call customer assistance, this time to see if there are other options as flight map on my app shows nothing.
After a 45 minute wait, the gentleman I speak to tells me he can’t help me. We have some back and forth and I am disconnected twice (more wait time every time I call back).
I confer with AI and call the different number it gives me and get another woman who also says tough luck. I go (polite) Karen and ask if there is anyone I can speak to above her.
She gives me supervisor. Now, by her accent, I can tell the supervisor is a black woman.
She asks about the problem. I walk her through everything and explain why I booked first class in the first place. I ask her if it’s possible to find any aisle or window seat or if she could at least put me in a lower boarding group so that I won’t have to check my bag.
She says, “Oh sweetheart I’m so sorry. Let me see what I can do.”
Tells me to hang on and in five minutes she comes back on and has it all sorted. Says, “I’ve now got you in first class on the flight you’re already rebooked on.” I thank her profusely and she tells me she’s so glad she was able to help me and that she hopes I’ll be doing better.
My point? The videos you see on this app are not representative of a whole class of people.
As I’ve said before, in going through medical treatments, I have had many wonderful nurses, but the black female nurses tend to be the warmest and most comforting.
Don’t know why. Maybe black culture is just more demonstrative or something. Or maybe it is that there is still a strong Christian culture among black Americans so my black nurses and I always bond over Jesus.
But the constant videos you see on here meant to disparage black women are not reflective of reality.
I talked to five people trying to get help. The only one who listened to me and helped me was the black woman.
And I just felt I needed to share this to counter the viral videos you always see circulating on here.
Arkansas | 2026 NCAA Outdoor National Champions
11th NCAA Outdoor title for Arkansas men
44th NCAA Championship overall
First NCAA Outdoor title since 2003