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.
@ilyynina I completely switched majors 2 years in. Seems daunting but once you start it’s not that big of a deal. Years will pass anyway, up to you whether they pass while you do something meaningful to you.
@kayzeBUGHA @CoachTeeChurch why didn’t they try to codify roe v wade in 2021 with house and senate majority? instead waited 3 years to promise they’ll fix it
@ytlyts quality > quantity every time, better off resting and recording once you’re feeling better. you might be able to get away with it but if it’s noticeable that you’re not into it, people will click off the video sooner 100%
@_sk8tie@MichelleMaxwell @minnesotadogmom because the billion dollars over the last 2 years that fema has spent on migrants had nothing to do with the hurricane, but now that there is a hurricane, the government apparently can’t fund FEMA