Many years ago, I worked in the lab of a factory. One day, one of my co-workers came in from the shop floor and asked if I had met the new guy. When I told him I had not, he came up to me and grabbed my hand to shake it, acting like he was the new guy, introducing him in the fashion of our new employee saying, “Hi! I’m Timothy. Timothy Righteous!” He quickly became known as Timothy Timothy Righteous because of his somewhat unique way of introducing himself. Timothy Timothy was a small, young white, kid that I assumed came to work right out of high school because he started with us right after graduation season. He was eager to introduce himself to everyone and I was among the people that got the Timothy Timothy introduction. He was also awkward in some of the social conventions of how to interact with other people, especially in a men’s locker room. He tried to introduce himself to co-workers who were naked, just getting out of the shower. None of these wet, naked men were looking to shake hands with this stranger, especially the big black men living in a community where there was still a lot of racial tension even in the late 1980’s. He was told in no uncertain terms to back off. He was getting a different education.
For the record, Timothy Righteous is not this man’s name but I’m using this one because the cadence of the words are similar to his real name and “Righteous” has spiritual suggestions like his real name.
