Rage in the Soup Kitchen...

Izzy Sommers, MD

7-140 Elmview Street

Welland, ON L3C 4K7

canadizzy@yahoo.ca

Letter to the editor

Welland Tribune

Corner East Main at River Road

Welland, Ontario, Canada

tribune@wellandtribune.ca

April 6, 2008

Re: SOUP KITCHEN RAGE

A 70 year old white, Jewish man, standing in line to get his free meal consisting of a Polish sausage on a bun with mustard, relish and salsa sauce, purported to be home-made by one of the staff members, made a short remark, he doesn’t recall, to a teenage white Christian girl, directly in front of him. The teenager remarked that she became frightened and moved about 10 feet ahead. The obese white man was startled and moved back 2 places in line. Carrying trays to the table, he noticed that his seat was now covered with a coat so he sat about 2 seats farther away from the girl, across from her sister and her brother. The sister remarked loudly about the rudeness of some people and looked at the man. He asked if he were the man being discussed and she angrily replied. “Yes! How dare you speak to my sister that way!” The brother added with a fisted gesture: ”I’m strong enough to defend my sister!”

The man arose from his half eaten sausage to approach the supervisor. The sister and the brother and the teenager arose as one to intercede by yelling ahead of him, “He can’t say such things! He shouldn’t be allowed to talk to my sister that way!” The supervisor, angrily said, “You have to stop saying those things! If you continue to harass this girl, I’ll see to it that you never come here again.” The man said, “But they’re not telling the truth!” The supervisor repeated her threat, angrily and into the man’s face.

The man abandonned his half-eaten meal on the table and left the building immediately. He will never return. He is afraid that they will call the police and have him arrested. He is writing this story to have some sort of defense in case there is a court case or a punishment meted out at the direction of the supervisor of the Hope Soup Kitchen. He hopes that because of his leaving immediately, it will go away. He hopes the brother will not come after him and beat him up. He is not aware that any of the other people in the soup kitchen at noon actually saw what happened. He is not aware of how many people would come forward to defend him or to bear false witness against him. He is not secure about how the court of public opinion will judge him.

He is sure how God will judge him.

Thank you for listening.

Izzy Sommers, MD

Welland, Canada