I came upon Havana Cigars a couple of weeks ago while visiting Los Angeles and walked into the cigar lounge mid-afternoon. There in well-worn brown leather chairs sat four men smoking their over-sized stogies.
I went into the humidor, checked out the fine selection of cigars and got one. The owner looked at me a bit suspiciously as I paid him, clearly not having seen me in the shop before. I asked him to cut the cigar so I could light it and have a seat in the front lounge.
Sitting down with the other guys I introduced myself - Brian from New Yawk.
"Where in New Yawk?" asked a curly blacked-haired Jewish looking guy who sounded strangely like all of my friends on Long Island.
"North Babylon," I said.
"Northport," he said. We had become friends in that moment. We shook hands. His name is Ira, whose mother is an Israeli and father a New Yawker.
Sitting by him was a Lebanese Christian; they were clearly friends and had been for many years.
Across the way sat an older gentleman, Richard, who I found out is an orthopedic surgeon in LA. Also Jewish, he has lived his adult life in Los Angeles but grew up in New Yawk. He speaks of the "old neighborhood" in Queens where he grew up.
There was one other guy who was there for only about 5 minutes after I got there - he works in the "industry," as they say (TV or movies). Italian Catholic I learned from our 5 minutes together.
Somehow I found this chance encounter in the cigar bar incredibly encouraging. We clearly had divergent beliefs and opinions, and yet we were able to speak about important issues. We debated, laughed, questioned, cracked jokes. I realized quickly that not only had these guys known each other for years, they respected each other even in the midst of differences. Hmmm, seems that I stumbled into a ... community!
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