Bonnie and Clyde

We were in Pasco, in Washington State, in the western United States. We had recently set foot on American soil and some very dear friends organized an open house to introduce us to their friends.

We were 5 couples in total, if my memory is right, since I´m talking about nine years ago. We were asked to introduce ourselves to the rest of the people who had been invited and then we went to the dining room table where there was wonderfully laid table with a delicious meat with puree and vegetables. I noticed that although the glasses were on the table, there was no drink at all. Suddenly, the owner of the house got up from the table and appeared with a gallon bottle of cold milk, offering it to each of us. I was the first one he offered “the drink” and I started laughing, it’s a joke, right? you’re kidding me! -he loved teasing people- Why would I drink milk when the dish was a delicious meat???!!! To my great surprise, no, it wasn’t a joke, he wasn’t kidding me. It was what they normally had to accompany dinner. As best I could, I stopped laughing and simply asked for water. That was one of my first lessons when I got to USA.

After the exquisite dinner, we went to the living room where we would play a game. Each person took a piece of paper out of a bag. It in, there was the name of someone famous and you had to say what you would do if you were that person for a day. They brought up several names that honestly didn’t ring a bell at all. Then it was my turn to take the piece of paper out of the bag, who do you think it was??? The president of the United States.

I never thought I would get this person! So I had to pretend to be the president of the United States for a day and decide what would I do in his place… so many things, to be honest!!! But of course, twenty-four hours is not much. Anyway, I had to choose something, what could I choose? Education reform? Abortion ban? Increase taxes for the richest? Modify immigration law? Ban tobacco? Well no, nothing like that.

I chose to ban having guns! What a decision I had made!!!  -I must admit I found very proud of my myself with it- I mentioned my idea to the group and each of the men in the room (with the exception of my husband) put his right hand towards the back. Needless to say, in a few seconds each of them brought forward a gun which was put on the table!

What do you want to ban??? -was their question.  My eyes looked like two flash-lights while the only thing that came to my mind was:  CHEWING GUM!!! Choose to ban chewing gum!!! Change it Monica, change it NOW!! I guess it was too late. Obviously, they respected my decision and understood I saw this as a foreigner. They asked me the reason for my option and I said that I didn’t think it was appropriate for anyone to carry a weapon. It didn’t make me feel safe.

It was then when they made me think of using a gun as a protection. If someone came into this house right now, wouldn’t you feel safe with each of us in possession of a gun? And the truth was that except for the owner of the house, who was a good friend of mine, I didn’t know anyone. What if suddenly one of them got a wrong idea and used the weapon? What if by chance he accidentally shot me?

That evening was unforgettable, and it reminded me that we all have our points of view, our own experiences and we always need to respect other people’s opinion.

Long story short, they “convinced” me not to ban guns and our friend, the host, invited my husband, our youngest daughter and me to come to his house again in the next few days to learn how to shoot. Result: I learned to shoot with an assault rifle, with a Magnum-44 and with other weapons that I don’t remember the name since our friend had about forty different weapons all around his house. Yes, 40, you read correctly.

And last, but not least, yes, definitely, I can be dangerous, you would never imagine how big of a bomb I can explode when eating a chewing gum!