There was an incident on the boat last week that seemed to illustrate that for me, but it did not have to do with words coming directly from anyone's lips. Let's see if I can put that into perspective.
First of all, there are two main places to eat breakfast when you are cruising (at least on our ship).
1. There is the all day buffet up on Deck 14 where the choices are spread out all over the middle of the Oceanview Cafe. People just grab a plate, some silverware, and get to filling the platter with any and every goodie they crave. And they can return to get more anytime.
2. Then there is the main dining room down on Deck 3 where you are ushered to a table, seated with menu in hand, and just order and wait for delivery. There are waiters that come by with various rolls and muffins, and a juice waiter along with a coffee one. It is a relaxing spot.
The main problem with going on a cruise is the amount of food that is available for consumption, and so we usually opt for the dining room option which helps with quantity control and gives the food the proper respect it deserves.
All that to say this:
We were at breakfast one morning early in the cruise itinerary, sitting at our table for 2, when a fellow passenger, one that we did not know for sure, appeared by the side of our table with a question. First he stated that he had noticed my shirt, one that read Bowdoin Track and Field, one my grandson got for me at his school, and he told me that he too was a runner.
I immediately told him that it was my grandson who was the runner in the family, and then this gentlemen proceeded to ask me a question. He was trying to remember the name of the Bowdoin female runner who had won the Olympic marathon back in 1984.
Amazingly, the name surfaced in my brain, and I said "Joan Benoit", and he affirmed the answer, saying that he just could not remember, but now knew it was a correct answer.
He proceeded to talk about running, when I remembered that Joan Benoit was married and her last name was Samuelson. He was impressed with that, but then I had to confess that Ms. Samuelson had a son that ran on our grandson's cross country team, and that was my clue to remembering.
A few days later, again at breakfast, this same man and his wife passed by our table. As they stopped to greet us, the wife asked if I was a minister. When I answered in the negative, she pointed to my shirt which read St. Simons Community Church, and commented that she thought I might be the pastor there.
I responded that I was just a plain old "lay person", and was wearing the shirt from our church at home.
Her response, "Well, I guess we are all supposed to be ministers anyway, aren't we?"
I thought, you are right we are, and maybe even the words on our clothing have meaning.
Kinda like the Capitol One credit card commercial "What's in your wallet?"
I guess I should really be careful what kind of message my shirt is putting out.
As an aside, this same couple stopped us again a few days later and remarked that I was not wearing a shirt that had lettering on it. She said they had begun to look forward to seeing what my shirt might be saying when they saw us.
Alas, I only had two shirts with messages on that trip, but I'll consider the implication if and when we ever go again.
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