A Baltimore Drug Dealer's “Ghetto Fabulous” Funeral and My Black Preacher Dad

My 87-year-old black preacher dad phoned me from Baltimore Maryland at my home in Florida. Dad spent the day at a conference for Baltimore City Fire Dept chaplains. Dad chuckled that he received a round of applause at the conference for being the oldest active chaplain in the state. Later this month, Dad is scheduled to be the keynote speaker addressing new recruits into the Baltimore fire department. He mentioned seeing a recruit outside of the conference wearing a fire department t-shirt while holding a can of beer. Dad learned that the recruit also has a habit of being late. Dad said such behavior was not tolerated in his day as a young firefighter. He lamented the decline of department standards.