Young, old, black, white

  Dock talk yesterday: 

    So B and I were standing on the dock with 7 other tankermen who were off the berths nearby.  We spent about 30 mins talking and eventually there were 2 conversations going. The guys under 40 were talking about supplements and who got fired so far this year, and us old farts were talking about medications and who died so far this year. 

     True story. 

 Tankermen are much like seagulls: we make a lot of noise, will eat out of a trash can, and absolutely will shit on anyone in the area.

 It wasn't long until the good natured insults were flying. But wow, zoomers are easily shocked. Puritanical when it comes to foul humor regarding race and sexual orientation. Poor kids. Seeing friends who are of completely different colors insult each other using stereotypes is a minefield for them. Super uncomfortable. 

I've been friends with the two worst offenders for almost 20 years.  One guy, O, used to be my 2nd man. They happen to be black and I mean, I'm a ginger, well, strawberry blond I guess, but still, I am the whitest white guy ever. 

 I could see at least one of the younger guys was getting anxious about the put-downs and humor. The two guys I was talking about? O was with me when I was coming to grips with my mom's passing. The other guy, we talked for months through the death of his marriage. History, you know? 

 The zoomer generation has never really experienced real fellowship between men, and that's a tragedy. They're so isolated, the poor bastards. I make fun of their fragility as a class, but it's starting to feel cruel. I wasn't about to go into a whole exposition and explain myself to them, but I hope that they'll get to experience not being so God-damned alone. In the meanwhile, I got caught up with friends, got my genitals mocked, accused O of stealing everyone's bicycles, and B and I left smiling.  And maybe the younger guys will try to build something similar with shipmates for when they're no longer the younger guys.