wierdest thing...i was walking up to edgewater baptist to participate in the axis meeting last night, and a guy was driving down 55th st. in a nice looking vehicle with the window down, and as he pulled up to the stop sign he said loudly in my direction "George Bush isn't a real Christian, you know!"
To which I responded "Ok." and opened the door and entered the church.
I could hear him continue as the door was closing "He's just duping you..." and after that the music from the sanctuary pretty much drowned him out.
that was pretty random, I thought.
It then occupied my mind for the next few minutes, making it really hard to concentrate on what was going on around me. I was amused that he assumed that because I was walking into a church that I 1.) must be one of those born again types, and 2.) must have voted for George and love the heck out of him, thinking he's God's gift to America because he's a Christian. I wondered what would have happened if I turned and talked to him instead of turning away. I know I really didn't have any option other than walking away; It's not like we could have talked very long with him stopped at the stop sign and all, and chances are if he was yelling stuff out his window at passers-by, he was looking for a reaction and not a conversation.
I had to think about if I was going to be insulted by being stereotyped like that. Yeah, I voted for Bush, but it was really just because I thought that John Kerry was an even bigger freak and I was afraid of what could be if he was president. If there was a viable 3rd option, I would definitely have considered it. I'm not against Bush at all, but I'm not jumping on the bandwagon just because he's a Christian. I think he's pulled some bonehead moves, but I think in general he's done alright. I definitely think he's taken more crap than he really deserves to get, and I really can't think of anyone that would be doing a better job than him that actually had a chance to be elected, so whatever.
That's not something that you can yell back at someone, or even tell them calmly in 5 seconds in order to justify yourself before they drive away. And really, there's no point in getting offended at some guy driving by that I'll never see again. He was probably more polite than most people in Minneapolis in expressing his views on the President, so I should probably even be thankful.
2 comments:
Yikes, Ann.
I recently received an email from a co-worker that was a game that made a cartoon-ified George Bush fall, and while he was falling he would hit different shaped bubbles and you could move him around with your mouse to hit the bubbles in different ways, his body limp and contorting every which way. Some co-workers found pleasure in it. It was so saddening to see ANYONE, muchless the president of the US being denigrated like that. Ugh. I pray that God would give me a humble heart and keep me from pride in thinking I have the right to treat anyone like that, even if I may not agree with their views or their actions. I would not want the president's job..especially when he's scrutinized for everything he does (and doesn't do) and blamed him for everything that happens while he is in office, even hurricanes. What a crazy world we live in.
There is a reason he chose to yell that from his car. The last thing he wanted was a reasoned debate on the issue. The last thing folks who compare Bush to Hitler, play little anti-Bush video games, and march in their little Sheehan-protests want is a reasoned discussion.
Rather, they choose the see their political ideals as an instrument in the battle of good and evil. Christians are unwitting sheep. Anything you say to the contrary might damage his worldview. So he hides behind his car, as a bigot hides behind a white sheet. He shouts his little epithets from a car with no fear of retribution. Folks like that, infuriating as they me, do not deserve a second thought.
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