Saturday, August 15, 2009

Class

I read in the paper today that a homeowner in Long Branch, NJ had called the police because there was a man wandering on her property.

When the police responded they saw a man wearing black sweatpants tucked into black rain boots and two raincoats with the hood pulled down over his head. The man carried no identification. The police officer asked the man what he was doing, he said he was looking for shelter from the rain. He gave his name as Bob Dylan, but the police officer who is 24 years old didn't recognize him.

He said he was doing a show with John Mellancamp and Willie Nelson, but the officer thought he might be a joker or a thief, or that he came from one of the hospitals in the area. The officers then put Bob Dylan in their patrol car and drove him back to the hotel where he said he was staying. When they got to the parking lot, they saw the tour buses and knocked on the door of one of them to see if they knew who was with them. Eventually the staffers showed Dylan's passport and the police thanked him for his cooperation.

Bob Dylan is a world famous singer and performer (although I don't think I'd recognize him either) who showed his class by being cooperative with the police and not flashing his celebrity around. He realized that he had met a young person who is not familiar with his work.

A certain Harvard professor could take lessons in class from this gentleman, Bob Dylan.

2 comments:

ms/sss said...

Do you think that if Bob Dylan started humming, "Blowin' in the Wind", or singing the words to his song "The Times They Are aChangin'", the young officer might have thought, "Mmmm!" I know that I probably would never recognize Bob Dylan either, but these two favorite songs still sound good to me.
Yes. Bob Dylan showed class that day.
ms/sss

BetteJo said...

But holy cow - what was he doing out there dressed like that . . ?