Fake I.D.

Not long after I moved to New Hampshire I was shopping at a grocery store. In addition to the normal staples of milk, eggs and cheese and other items, I had a six-pack of long necks in my cart. As I proceeded to check out I courteously handed over my driver’s license as proof of my legal drinking age. The checker promptly handed my license over to a young supervisor looking fellow standing near the register. He took a long look at my license and then walked over to what looked to be the store manager. Then they started thumbing through a large binder. I speculated that they were double checking the authenticity of my I.D. since they were not used to seeing Oregon licenses.

After several minutes had gone by the two managers came back to me and handed back my license and said they were going to refuse the right to sell me the beer. They said my license was a fake. This of course was to my surprise because I knew with certain that my Oregon license was certainly not a fake. However, they were not willing to debate the issue.

I left the store minus my beer. In the grand scheme of things this really isn’t a big deal. However, I couldn’t help but feel like an injustice had been committed against me. I actually believe the supervisor and store manager made the right decision, but the reality of the situation was that I was falsely accused of fraudulence. My very identity had been called into question. My picture, date of birth, height, weight and color of eyes was all being declared fake. But I was telling the truth!

An injustice was committed against me that day. Fortunately, it was over beer and not something more important. One good thing that has come out of all of this is that I take injustice more seriously. As a white male living in the United States I’m probably the most justly treated person on the face of the earth. I imagined what it must be like for underprivileged woman living without the right to vote, or Palestinians being ousted from their homeland in order to make way for the new Jewish nation.