In today’s busy world where everyone wants to maintain their privacy, oftentimes people don’t always showcase good old fashion manners or the common courtesy to speak back when spoken too.
I was pleasantly surprised when a local (national) celebrity took the time to stop, say hello and listen to my story about a great cause I am passionate about.
The story is pretty simple, I was at my favorite running trail and getting ready to take off on my run but before I started I looked behind me to ensure I wasn’t getting in the way of another runners or bikers and I noticed two bikers that were riding hard and coming past me headed up the trail.
I noticed that that one of them was Tyler Perry and I assume the other was his trainer/security guy. I said cool, the guy is out here staying in shape and I thought it would be good to talk to him about Black Men Run and what our mission is but by that time he was long gone.
I started on my 4-mile speed run and on my return run I was about a half a mile from the start when Tyler and his trainer shot past me on their return ride.
I screamed out to Tyler, “How about a picture with me in the shirt and let me tell you about Black Men Run,” Tyler screamed back, “Dude I can’t stop; I have to kill this 10 mile bike ride and I am in zone, maybe next time”.
So I started chasing him but of course I was left in the dust, (the guy can really ride a bike), so as they pulled out of sight and I finished my run and started walking back to my car as my cool down.
So about a half mile up the road in the place where I parked I was getting ready to change shirts when I hear someone call me over and get out of his car. Tyler says he saw my shirt and wanted to say hello.
I told him who I was and what Black Men Run was about and our mission to promote a healthy lifestyle via running for African American men. He was totally onboard with our mission and thought it was a great idea.
I told him that I would get him a couple of shirts soon and he gave directions on how to get it too him. He asked if I wanted to take a picture and I said sure and he was very cool, didn’t seem put offish or rushed to end our conversation.
Now I did not see him in his car and he did not have to get out and call me over to talk.
Overall, celebrities like Tyler Perry are normal people (in a sense) but just busy like everyone else and have their own world and their own set of priorities but it was nice to see that he was out taking care of his health and made time to talk before leaving.
