Bringing a little Buffalo to the South

Today, a man in a little "store" across from the Whistle Stop Cafe on McCrackin Street, in Juliette Georgia (where the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed), attempted to sell me bits of movie paraphenalia, and when I would not bite, tried to convince me to buy into his business, which was basically an electronic card that people would hang around their necks, displaying all of the person's medical records. In theory, this sounds like a great idea...if there is a problem, someone can click a little button and access all of your medical history: charts, allergies, immunizations, serious ailments, even x-rays. He wanted me to talk to the higher-ups at the college where I teach to see if they would be interested in supplying all of their incoming freshman with medical cards. ("It's a tax right-off," he said.)

But let's think about this....can you really see an eighteen year old in a club wearing a lanyard with a plastic card around his neck? And what happens when there's a bar fight? I imagine some kid sprawled on the ground in some hole of a club, his personal records on file for anyone to steal.

Not actual lanyard...or college student...but it's a very close rendition....seriously!

Can we say, "identity theft," anyone? I wanted to tell this man that where I come from (being born of the Buffalo wing), people would not want strangers accessing their personal information. We'd rather go down in a bloody, painful spiral toward death, than admit to our medical failings, or let anyone have any access to something they could steal. And I would have told this very southern man...but he kept talking abouy how it was God's will. Apparently, it was preordained that this man and his friends would save the world through electronics.

Needless to say, I was not onboard.