Chivalry Has It's Rewards

Published on June 23, 2006 By MasonM In Blogging

I decided to not stay at the casino today and instead moved to Albequerque,NM and parked at the truckstop there. I really wanted a cold beer and since there wasn't an adult beverage establishment nearby I took a walk. I found a bar about a block from the truckstop.

I made friends with the two guys working the bar there and commenced to endulging in a few adult beverages while engaging in discourse with the patrons around me. I have having a pretty enjoyable time for a while. At some point a young lady came in selling indian jewelry. She was showing her wares around and showed them to me. I really liked some of it but explained that I was short of funds and really coldn't afford to make a purchase at the time.

She was very freindly and seemed to understand, and I bought her a drink. After a short time some jerk started insulting her and giving her a hard time. I had imbided in a few by then and took offense at his behavior and quickly stood to her defense. A few words were exchanged but no blows and he apologized to her.

A little time had passed when a couple of guys came in and sat down at the stools beside me. They were obviously indians although they didn't appear to be from the area as they looked more like Navaho than Hopi to me. During our conversation I found that they were in fact Navaho from Arizona.

One of the guys noticed the tattoo on my left upper arm and commented "nice shield, bro". This was a very positive comment for me as most people (white people) take it for a dream catcher instead of the war shield it actually is meant to depict. I thanked him for his comment and he said "that's a powerful shield you have there, where did you get it? Are you native?". He then went into great detail about the meaning and significance of my personal symbol displayed on my arm and how it wards off evil, all of which I was already fully familiar with. That particular tattoo has a lot of meaning for me.

I was then forced to explain that it was my own design, inspired by my grandmother and that my grandmother was Apache and my personal guide was the eagle." I was especially taken aback by the question because I have light brown hair and blue eyes so nobody could mistake me for an indian. But he knew that not all indians look like what people expect indians to look like.

I really appreciated his attitude towards me and explained my heritage which is a combination of Irish, Apache, and Cherokee, in the order of percentage. After my explaination he continued to call me "bro" and we had a very good intelligent conversation about many things including the military service we both shared, the current state of affairs in the country, and life in general. Really nice guy.

It's really nice to be accepted and understood for what one is instead of what someone thinks you should be. While my heritage/genetic makeup is hardly of my own doing, it is very much who I am. I take great pride in both my indian heritage and my Iriish heritage as both are where I personally came from. Without both of them I wouldn't exist today.

Of course, being Irish and Indian it means I drink, but I get pissed about it.

This is the tattoo he commented on. (not a great pic)

Comments

MasonM

on Jun 23, 2006

Oh, in writing this I nearly forgot the rewards part. The young lady I defended presented me with this ring as a gift.

SanChonino

on Jun 24, 2006

that's some beautiful traditional Navajo silverwork . . . makes me homesick for Santa Fe again, Mason. Geez, thanks a lot, you big jerk.

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#2 by San Chonino
Sat, June 24, 2006 01:32 AM

[San Chonino]
that's some beautiful traditional Navajo silverwork . . . makes me homesick for Santa Fe again, Mason. Geez, thanks a lot, you big jerk.

You're welcome

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#3 by little-whip
Sat, June 24, 2006 08:14 AM

[little-whip]
Nice chunks! (nice ink, too!)

Thanks

Dr Guy

on Jun 24, 2006

My Sister loves Turquoise. Nice Ring.

Tova7

on Jun 24, 2006

That's a great story Mason.

And what a nice lady to give you a ring for defending her...maybe your engaged.hehe.

Glad you enjoyed yourself...

AvantiTexan

on Jun 24, 2006

Awesome tattoo! I have a really good friend who is full blood Native American Indian, at this moment I can't remember what tribe (I guess you would call it) he is from. The Italians LOVE him! He makes jewelry and break dances.

Oh, way to stand up for the lady. Rock on.

Trudygolightly

on Jun 24, 2006

Glad you had a good conversation

and that is indeed a nice ring!!

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#6 by Dr. Guy
Sat, June 24, 2006 1:42 PM

[Dr. Guy]
My Sister loves Turquoise. Nice Ring.

Thanks. I've always been partial to turquoise myself.

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#7 by Tova7
Sat, June 24, 2006 3:21 PM

[Tova7]
That's a great story Mason.

And what a nice lady to give you a ring for defending her...maybe your engaged.hehe.

Glad you enjoyed yourself...

Please don't use the "E" word

Yes, it was nice of her. I offered to pay her for it but she wouldn't hear of it.

Thanks.

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#8 by AvantiTexan
Sat, June 24, 2006 4:10 PM

[AvantiTexan]
Awesome tattoo! I have a really good friend who is full blood Native American Indian, at this moment I can't remember what tribe (I guess you would call it) he is from. The Italians LOVE him! He makes jewelry and break dances.

Oh, way to stand up for the lady. Rock on.

Thanks.

Tribe is an appropriate word, but "Apache", "Navaho", "Cherokee", etc... are nations. Each nation is normally made up of numerous tribes. Where's he from?

I would imagine he's a novelty in Italy

MasonM

on Jun 24, 2006

#9 by Trudygolightly
Sat, June 24, 2006 5:35 PM

[Trudygolightly]
Glad you had a good conversation and that is indeed a nice ring!!

Thanks. I haven't taken it off since she gave it to me (except to wash my paws).

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