LJ Idol, Topic One. "Call it faith. You have it, I assume?"
I confess that when I saw the prompt "When you pray, move your feet", for the first LJ Idol topic, I was very tempted to post a link to MC Hammer doing his goofy dances in his video for "Pray". But that doesn't really do the job, does it? (Oh, what the hell, though -- knock yourself out.)
I think, instead, I'll use this as an opportunity to tell you about the time somebody tried to convert me to their faith while I was stuck in a traffic jam.
Picture, if you will, a hot summer afternoon. Sunlight twinkles and glints off a sea of metal: an endless panorama of vehicles sitting, stuck, on Atlanta's southbound I-75. This is, I read somewhere, the widest interstate highway in the US, with fifteen through lanes at that particular location. It's not helping today. Somewhere far ahead, an idiot has crashed his car while talking on his cell phone, or perhaps she was busy reading the newspaper, or maybe they were arguing about their kids, or some other damn thing. In any case, they wiped out badly enough to snarl traffic across the entire set of southbound lanes, and we are well and truly stuck.
The heat was not helping matters, particularly since at that time I was driving a several-years-old Ford Escort whose air conditioning had given up the ghost a few months prior. I was trying to distract myself with loud music (Stryper, as it happens, something which was to be grimly amusing to me very shortly) when I noticed the guy in the car next to me waving his arms and trying to get my attention. I cut the music off and he beamed at me.
"Hey, I was just wondering what that symbol on the back of your car means?" (This one here, moving its little feet. "Move your feet", see what I did there?)
Is this guy serious? "Um, well, it indicates I believe in Darwinism, evolution, over creationism."
"Did you know that Darwin recanted his beliefs on his deathbed?"
I sighed. "Okay, first of all, that's a myth. The Lady Hope story was denied by Darwin's entire family. Secondly, I don't really see what difference it makes if he 'recanted his beliefs' -- I figure that the work he did during his life speaks for itself, and that's what I believe."
"But don't you think that...."
"Yes, actually, I do think. That's why I believe in evolution rather than creationism. Also, are you really doing this now? Here, of all places? Shouting at me from your car in a traffic jam?"
"Look, I just wanted to talk to you about it! Something wrong with that?"
I pretended to muse about it. "You pick a lousy venue for the conversation, and start off by trying to change my mind with a widely-discredited story. Yeah, I can think of two things right off. Sorry, I don't think this is going anywhere. Some other time, maybe."
And I turned up the music again and went back to beating time on the steering wheel. I could see him trying to get my attention again but the cars around us had finally started moving, and he was obliged to do the same. I did see him mouthing "God bless you" at me, and accepted it with a smile and a wave rather than the annoyed grimace he probably expected.
You see, I'm one of those people who contains a multitude of contradictions. To get to know me, you don't necessarily have to understand those contradictions, just accept that they're there.
Here is a man who is a staunch atheist, who believes in no gods of any kind, yet loves Christian music such as J.S. Bach, Christian rock and metal like Stryper and Barren Cross, happily celebrates the Christmas season, and frequently discusses religion and faith with those more evangelical than himself.
Here is a man who enjoys Disney films, video games, Transformers, and other childlike pursuits, yet is equally at home with more adult fare: at the opera, discussing stocks and bonds, talking about (or having!) sex.
Here is a guy who enjoys escapist fantasy literature, can seriously discuss the merits of Harry Potter or the Song of Ice and Fire, and wishes wistfully that he were a hobbit in Tolkien's Middle-earth, but has no truck with astrology, psychic readings, paranormal phenomena, or anything else that can't be measured empirically.
Here is a guy whose musical collection spans dozens of genres and tens of thousands of albums, but can't play a note on a single instrument.
Here is a man who doesn't smoke, won't touch drugs, and drinks only sparingly, but doesn't object to their use in others.
Here is a guy who can make computers dance on the head of a pin, who is at home with the complexities of home theater electronics, and makes his living in IT support, but is utterly defeated when faced with a dead car engine, a broken dishwasher, or any home repair task requiring anything more difficult than the driving of a nail.
Here is a guy who hates intolerance, bigotry and racism of all kinds, but is the first to scream "censorship!" when racist, bigoted or intolerant speech or writings are struck down for being -- well -- racist, bigoted or intolerant.
Here is a man who professes not to care what others think about him, but has enough of an attention-whore in him to create a public journal in which he's been writing for nearly ten years, and eventually goes far enough to enter a drama-magnet competition like LJ Idol.
Here is a man, multifaceted, complex, intense, passionate -- and open, here, for your gaze.
(A final note: Mega-bonus geek points to anyone who can identify the film from which the title quote comes.)
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know what contradictions you may have noted in yourself.]]
Edited 10/25/11: The full list of entries from all other participants is now available. Please do check out many of the others as there is plenty of good writing to be seen.
I think, instead, I'll use this as an opportunity to tell you about the time somebody tried to convert me to their faith while I was stuck in a traffic jam.
Picture, if you will, a hot summer afternoon. Sunlight twinkles and glints off a sea of metal: an endless panorama of vehicles sitting, stuck, on Atlanta's southbound I-75. This is, I read somewhere, the widest interstate highway in the US, with fifteen through lanes at that particular location. It's not helping today. Somewhere far ahead, an idiot has crashed his car while talking on his cell phone, or perhaps she was busy reading the newspaper, or maybe they were arguing about their kids, or some other damn thing. In any case, they wiped out badly enough to snarl traffic across the entire set of southbound lanes, and we are well and truly stuck.
The heat was not helping matters, particularly since at that time I was driving a several-years-old Ford Escort whose air conditioning had given up the ghost a few months prior. I was trying to distract myself with loud music (Stryper, as it happens, something which was to be grimly amusing to me very shortly) when I noticed the guy in the car next to me waving his arms and trying to get my attention. I cut the music off and he beamed at me.
"Hey, I was just wondering what that symbol on the back of your car means?" (This one here, moving its little feet. "Move your feet", see what I did there?)
Is this guy serious? "Um, well, it indicates I believe in Darwinism, evolution, over creationism."
"Did you know that Darwin recanted his beliefs on his deathbed?"
I sighed. "Okay, first of all, that's a myth. The Lady Hope story was denied by Darwin's entire family. Secondly, I don't really see what difference it makes if he 'recanted his beliefs' -- I figure that the work he did during his life speaks for itself, and that's what I believe."
"But don't you think that...."
"Yes, actually, I do think. That's why I believe in evolution rather than creationism. Also, are you really doing this now? Here, of all places? Shouting at me from your car in a traffic jam?"
"Look, I just wanted to talk to you about it! Something wrong with that?"
I pretended to muse about it. "You pick a lousy venue for the conversation, and start off by trying to change my mind with a widely-discredited story. Yeah, I can think of two things right off. Sorry, I don't think this is going anywhere. Some other time, maybe."
And I turned up the music again and went back to beating time on the steering wheel. I could see him trying to get my attention again but the cars around us had finally started moving, and he was obliged to do the same. I did see him mouthing "God bless you" at me, and accepted it with a smile and a wave rather than the annoyed grimace he probably expected.
You see, I'm one of those people who contains a multitude of contradictions. To get to know me, you don't necessarily have to understand those contradictions, just accept that they're there.
Here is a man who is a staunch atheist, who believes in no gods of any kind, yet loves Christian music such as J.S. Bach, Christian rock and metal like Stryper and Barren Cross, happily celebrates the Christmas season, and frequently discusses religion and faith with those more evangelical than himself.
Here is a man who enjoys Disney films, video games, Transformers, and other childlike pursuits, yet is equally at home with more adult fare: at the opera, discussing stocks and bonds, talking about (or having!) sex.
Here is a guy who enjoys escapist fantasy literature, can seriously discuss the merits of Harry Potter or the Song of Ice and Fire, and wishes wistfully that he were a hobbit in Tolkien's Middle-earth, but has no truck with astrology, psychic readings, paranormal phenomena, or anything else that can't be measured empirically.
Here is a guy whose musical collection spans dozens of genres and tens of thousands of albums, but can't play a note on a single instrument.
Here is a man who doesn't smoke, won't touch drugs, and drinks only sparingly, but doesn't object to their use in others.
Here is a guy who can make computers dance on the head of a pin, who is at home with the complexities of home theater electronics, and makes his living in IT support, but is utterly defeated when faced with a dead car engine, a broken dishwasher, or any home repair task requiring anything more difficult than the driving of a nail.
Here is a guy who hates intolerance, bigotry and racism of all kinds, but is the first to scream "censorship!" when racist, bigoted or intolerant speech or writings are struck down for being -- well -- racist, bigoted or intolerant.
Here is a man who professes not to care what others think about him, but has enough of an attention-whore in him to create a public journal in which he's been writing for nearly ten years, and eventually goes far enough to enter a drama-magnet competition like LJ Idol.
Here is a man, multifaceted, complex, intense, passionate -- and open, here, for your gaze.
(A final note: Mega-bonus geek points to anyone who can identify the film from which the title quote comes.)
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know what contradictions you may have noted in yourself.]]
Edited 10/25/11: The full list of entries from all other participants is now available. Please do check out many of the others as there is plenty of good writing to be seen.