G, How Easy.
I used to work in social work. A young man came into our transitional living program (a program for 17-21 year-olds) with white-power gang tattoos. We played dumb about the ink and staffed the young man with all black workers. A few months into the program, I asked him about the tattoos. He admitted they were gang related and racist, because he hated black people. I asked him about his staff. Did he hate them? No, he liked all of them. Especially Fred. He was a good-old boy like him. Fred liked to fish and hunt. Heck, Fred even taught him how to cook. I asked him if he ever thought his tattoos were hurtful to good people. He admitted he regretted them, but ink is permanent. Well, we couldn't get rid of them, but we could change them. A local tattoo artist covered them for free. A year or so later, the young man made us dinner....wanted to show off his skills. One of the items on the menu was Fred's Green Beans. To this day, I only make Fred's Green Beans.
Drain canned green beans
Heat your skillet until it's sizzling hot
(I use cast iron, sometimes I use my wok)
Add about a tablespoon of butter, allow to melt
Add the green beans and fry them up.
Salt and pepper and serve.
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| My babies. Carter, Cole, Conner, and Caleb |
If yours are anything like mine, threats of violence won't make them all smile at the same time. Three would look great, one would make rabbit ears. I'd yell at Bugs Bunny wanna-be and he'd straighten up, but then someone else would cross his eyes. Finally, I decided if you can't beat them, join them. I'd tell them to get me one picture I could send to family and then they could do have their fun- no holds barred. We've had so much fun with it, sometimes the goofy shot becomes the keeper.
How cool that young lad turned his life around, and good on the tattoo artist for the freebie!
ReplyDeleteMy eldest son has perfected the 'I've just seen a ghost' look when a camera is pointed at him. I just send those photos out now, and save them for his 18th, obviously :-)
Well, I won't claim he did a complete turn around from all bad things, but he did open his mind a bit.
DeleteMine have started doing the Chandler Bing from Friends smile. Oy.
What a great story about that young man. He turned his life around and got rid of the tattoos.
ReplyDeleteWith your four, you might as well go for goofy.
It was a great moment. Most people who just hate, don't have a clue who they are hating.
DeleteI love this story and I'm glad they could cover them. There's no reason for blind hate.
ReplyDeleteYour boys' picture cracks me up.
Just goes to show that scary looking guys who are covered in tattoos and piercings can be real humanitarians.
DeleteRarely does prejudice continue when someone actually knows individuals. You were very smart to place him with the people he thought he hated.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about frying canned green beans. I bet they are good.
You're so right. And in our world where we seem to be dividing back up, we have to remember there are humans on each side.
DeleteGreat story, Elizabeth! During photos, my niece and nephew take one funny face picture as long as they take a "good" one also. But I agree about the goofy photos sometimes being the keeper. :)
ReplyDeleteLet's just say kids need a chance to freely express themselves. Sure. That's it.
DeleteWhat a brilliant and effective way to help that young man! Love the picture of the boys, what a hoot!
ReplyDeleteMy boys are so much fun. I'm so glad I never taught them to be too serious. It makes for entertainment.
DeleteWhat an absolutely beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure Anne Marie :)
DeleteGreat picture of your 'tiny, tiny' babies. hehe
ReplyDeleteLove that story about the 'white power' dude. He came good!
I do have some tiny babies!!
DeleteI love your "little babies". So sweet!! I'm still holding out hope that our babies might meet up one day...lol. And oh my gosh great idea for picture taking. I ruin all of our family photos. My girls are much more photogenic than me, but getting us all to smile at the same time, and me without a wonky eye is impossible. Going the goofy route is much more our speed.
ReplyDeleteWorking with troubled youth is what I do too. And I often wonder about some of the tattoos I have seen. One kid, had "SCUM BUCKET" inked right across his forehead. When asked why he would do something like that he said, "Because I really felt like a scum bucket that day". Yep. Impulse control was really lacking there. But we did our best to help him out. You know what they say, once a social worker, always a social worker! Great post.
Hilarious goofy shot of your boys! I've give up trying to get my little guy to smile all the time too. He's much more happy to make a silly face. :) Glad that kid came around and saw people for who they truly were and not the color of their skin.
ReplyDeleteI love green beans, but I've never fried them like that. Usually I do the same concept but they are in a pot with their juice/water.
ReplyDeleteNow that was one wonderful turn-around story! I loved it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful story! Green beans are one of the few vegetables I actually like. I've never tried frying them before, though.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's amazing. It's nice to hear a story about someone being able to turn things around. My nephews used to hate having their picture taken.
ReplyDeleteAwesome that he turned things around. lol the goofy shots are the most fun
ReplyDeleteLove that shot of your boys. It's awesome.
ReplyDeleteI like to roast green beans in the oven. they're yummy.
That's an awesome turn around story! Loved it!
ReplyDeleteAnd that picture is hilarious! My family and I do those, too, but unfortunately, when we are asked for a "serious" family picture we have a tough time finding them. This spring, we combed through all of our pics from last year to find one family photo of all of us just smiling near Mt. Rushmore . . . and we are still wearing sunglasses. :)
Those goofy shots always turn out better than the posed ones, I think!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to do my next green beans that way...always to my corn that way.
Loved the story of the young man making something of himself. I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Kudos to Fred for looking past the outside and reaching his heart.
Loved the story about the young man and the green beans! Wise decision to place him where he was placed with Fred. So glad too he could get the tattoos removed! Great picture of your "boys".
ReplyDeletebetty
Wonderful story Liz. I am very impressed. But canned beans, no sorry.
ReplyDeletewhat a great story :)
ReplyDeleteI love doing green beans that way. And the story, wow, that was a great story. So glad it had a good ending like that. I was worried in the beginning, but I should have known better with you being the storyteller! Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com
ReplyDeleteBYW, I only use fresh green beans and they still taste great cooked that way!
DeleteOoh, I love green beans. And I'm glad the man learned how ugly those kinds of tattoos can be.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet story. Glad he made a change.
ReplyDeleteYUM! Those beans sounds delish. What's not to like about butter?? And I love the story of how they came about. Almost as much as I love the pic of your boys ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm really happy to hear that the boy had learned his lesson about race seemingly of his own accord.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with your sons when it comes to photographs - those boring still shots have no personality!
Your kids are so awesome!!! Green beans... Yum
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely story and so nice you remember him whenever you have green beans! And I love that photo of your kids... it looked like so much fun :D x
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