{"id":12690,"date":"2017-11-24T15:55:32","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T20:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdcthereporter.com\/?p=12690"},"modified":"2020-09-24T17:06:03","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T21:06:03","slug":"not-usual-lunch-date-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mdcthereporter.com\/staging\/8357\/not-usual-lunch-date-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Your Usual Lunch Date"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was a man in his late 50s; his face bared black and white stubble and his tall, wiry frame was draped in old clothing. His name was Tyrone but he told me, \u201cpeople call me World.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It never dawned on me to ask him why he received that nickname; I\u2019d soon find out that I would leave with many unanswered questions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I first met World in front of Miami Dade College\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdc.edu\/wolfson\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Wolfson Campus<\/span><\/a> when he approached me and asked what my major was.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I explained that I was double majoring in international relations and journalism, his eyes widened and he whistled as though he ate a hot pepper. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat\u2019s something deep\u201d he said. I sensed that he was dreading his next question.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He asked for money, but I knew that I could do more than just handing him a dollar and moving on with my day. I looked over his shoulder to the McDonald\u2019s across the street and decided to invite him to lunch. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He went to the restroom after we ordered. I sat down with our food and waited patiently for him to return. He returned with a subdued grin that quickly turned to a smile as he noticed me. As he sat down, I asked him if everything was alright. He let out a long sigh and looked down as if he was looking for the words to say on the floor. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m dying. There is no other way to put it,\u201d \u00a0World said. \u201cI have HIV. I just spent the last 10 minutes coughing up blood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But it didn&#8217;t phase him and he continued to speak as though nothing had occurred. I, being hungry, began to eat my food rather quickly. He smiled at me and chuckled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhere [are] you trying to head off to so quickly?\u201d he asked. I replied by saying nowhere. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo then eat calmly,\u201d he answered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He spoke next of prison, or \u00a0how he called it \u201cthe cage\u201d. He spent 13 years inside \u201cthe cage\u201d and that\u2019s where he got his nickname. I didn\u2019t ask how he got in there, but he spoke of how poorly he and others were treated and how tragic the situation of prisons and law enforcement continues to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We then began our goodbyes. He told me he was heading to Boca Raton to try and receive treatment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere\u2019s nothing left for me here,\u201d he said. I gave him money for his trip and watched as he walked away. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although I was left with unanswered questions and unsaid words, I left learning the life and story of someone most people wouldn\u2019t usually sit down and have lunch with.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He was a man in his late 50s; his face bared black and white stubble and his tall, wiry frame was draped in old clothing. His name was Tyrone but he told me, \u201cpeople call me World.\u201d It never dawned on me to ask him why he received that nickname; I\u2019d soon find out that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":438,"featured_media":12691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[35,296,1409],"class_list":{"0":"post-12690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-forum","8":"tag-wolfson-campus","9":"tag-homeless","10":"tag-hiv"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Not Your Usual Lunch Date<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justin Marcano writes about what he learned when he had lunch with someone that most people would rather shy away from\u2014 a 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