Sheltered

Sheltered example 1: I work with a lovely lady. She's white, South African and Afrikaans. She loves everything about South Africa and misses it dearly... and she is not the brightest member of the light brigade.

Over the weekend, she watched Cry Freedom, with Kevin Kline and Denzel Washington. Had I seen the movie, she asked me. Yes... I watched it at school. You know, when the teacher was too lazy to force us to pay attention in history.

You see, my colleague had never seen the movie. In fact, it upset her terribly because... and I quote... "did you know how the blacks were treated during Apartheid? It was horrible!"

Um, yes. Did you know that sometimes white people sleep with black people? I didn't actually ask her that, I don't think she could handle two shocking truths in one week. I suppose it's possible that she missed every episode of Carte Blanche, Special Assignment, Third Degree, all the BBC documentaries and CNN broadcasts (who never seem to show footage outside of Soweto). Maybe she didn't catch the few newspapers that covered the TRC hearings. I suppose it's possible to grow up in South Africa and not notice that Apartheid may have affected a few people.

Sheltered example 2: Metric Martyrs. First, I love the sentence, "his scales were confiscated and he earned a criminal conviction for selling a pound of bananas." Second - ounces, yards, miles... let it go. And yes... you were on the winning side (but noticeably NOT the winning factor) in a war 60 years ago. LET IT GO.