Last night while I was having dinner at Applebee's a black guy came in and sat at the bar. Since this WI town is one of the whitest places I've ever been, with very little in the way of diversity, I assumed he was from somewhere else just as myself.

I had him rightly pegged as a truck driver, but he surprised me when he said he was a local driver and lives here. I said "You live here? Are you like the only black dude in town?"

He laughed at that and said that no, there are a few here. He knew I was joking around but a couple sitting at one end of the bar appeared to be shocked that I would say such a thing. That made the thing even more funny for myself and the other guy.

We laughed and joked around a bit, talked about trucking a bit, and shook hands when it was time for him to head home. Really nice guy.

The reaction of those other people got me to thinking though. Who's the bigot? The guys who can make good natured jokes about race while having a beer together, or the people who are so afraid of the subject that a simple joke shocks them?

I travel all over the country for a living and meet all sorts of people of every race, creed, color, religion, and national origin. Some places are predominantly one general group of people while others, like where I live in FL, are a real mix of everyone.

Some people I like, some people I don't, but it's based upon that individual person and not some preconceived notions about them. I think that's the way it should be. Getting to know people from all sorts of backgrounds and such is one of the most fun parts of my job.