through the looking glass

I’m exhausted. and I’m having a hard time deciding if I’m not doing anything because I’m tired or if I’m tired because I’m not doing anything. tricky one, that. so I’ve been setting up these goofy situations for myself, to see what will happen. like today. I really, really need a fan. it’s hot. (okay, it couldn’t be too hot as I’m typing in a cashmere cardigan, but still) but my house has reached end-of-the-school-week hurricane status. so, I’m allowed to go downtown after I’ve cleaned my house. needless to say, I’m obviously not dexterous enough to clean and type….

had an interesting conversation last night. group of random people over hotpot, bunch of christians, couple non. the talk turned to religion (not the non-religious people’s doing). the chinese side was full of yesses and I agrees until my n-c friend got into the mix, meanwhile on the american side my dinner partner got started telling people that evolution was just a theory and I decided against all better judgement to try and present the theory that puts creationism and darwin on the same plate, assuming one is willing to take the old testament as metaphor, not fact. (even though I personally don’t believe, for reference. needless to say, my discussion partner didn’t understand this at all and assumed I was trying to argue against the existance of god. so not so much pointful. but anyway.)

As I’m really only interested in dialogue on the subject when actual dialogue is involved we agreed to disagree, each saying they respected the other’s beliefs. the a.c. (american christian) then got a phone call, and as he was sitting next to me I couldn’t help but overhear my name, followed by “I’ll have to tell you about her later, she’s one of *those* people”. I sighed and waited for him to get off the phone. the following is a rough representation of the ensuing conversation :

“You said you respected me, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Do you consider calling someone ‘one of *those* people’ to be a respectful thing to say?”
“Well, I’m Christian and you’re not.”
“If I called you ‘one of *those* people’ would you think I respected you?”
“No.”
“So therefore you saying the same thing about me is a sign of disrespect.”
“No. Because you don’t believe. You were raised in a household that didn’t teach you….”
“How could you possibly know how I was raised?”
no comment
“I was raised Roman Catholic. As an adult I chose to disagree.”
“Well, if I offended you I’m truly sorry.”
“You didn’t offend me in the slightest…”
“Well, if I offended you I’m truly sorry, I truly am.”
“No, really. You didn’t offend me at all. I’m just saying you can’t have it both ways. It’s easy to say you respect someone, but your other words clearly show that you do not respect those who disagree with you.”
I can’t remember his words here, but he was trying to put the conversation back into a religious framework.
“Okay, but this isn’t about god. This has nothing to do with religion. I asked you how you could say you respected someone then called them ‘one of *those* people.”
He paused here and finally said “I don’t know. I never thought about it that way. I’ll have to think about that.”
“Cool, that’s all I could ask for.”
Here he thanked me a little too profusely. I’m honestly not sure whether he was considering what he’d said or was just ready for me to shut up about the whole thing. Like he would say, that’s between him and god.

This illustrates one of the issues I have with religion. This guy feels he needs religion, he’s an ex junkie and now he’s clean thanks to it. Rock on. Whatever it takes to get you through a day. I might not agree, but I’ve got some pretty wonky ideas about the nature of the universe (something in the vicinity of quantum physics and vedic philosophy) so far be it from me to throw the first stone. But just because it worked for you shouldn’t mean it needs to happen to me. Each to his own and all that. Why do people need other people to agree with them to be confident about their own beliefs…

Then again, my feathers get a bit ruffled at the idea of an native speaking english teacher with horrendous grammar and vocabulary issues. not to mention one who passes out billy graham books. So there’s my bias showing.