USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
Dak Prescott on third down:
1st in QBR
1st in passer rating
1st in EPA/dropback
1st in success rate
One of many reasons why he's my current choice for MVP.
Pod here: https://t.co/25po4Tj9rF
Full Cowboys Eagles discussion on youtube here: https://t.co/9FIHRPQ6au
Daylight Saving Time is increasingly hard to notice when my digital are devices are like, "What? Nothing happened. We know what time it is."
And my stove is left blinking and screaming, "IT HAPPENED! TIME SHIFTED UNNATURALLY! THEY'RE ALL LYING! ONLY I KNOW! ONLY I REMEMBER!"
This is Wallace. He thought the dinosaurs had died off. Also thought they were bigger. Either way, this is a no T-rex household… and he intends to keep it that way. 13/10
HAHA! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is “Never get involved in a land war in Asia,” but only slightly less well known is this: "Do not buy Twitter."
" I am just showing people how to express their adversity to allow it to become their strength."
Your 2022 Walter Payton @NFL Man of the Year, @dak Prescott
#DallasCowboys | @Nationwide
📺: #NFLHonors on NBC