A reminder...
... of why I'm neither a politician nor a priest.
I was at church this morning having been invited by Renaissance Priest, and was reminded of being back in Mackay on the campaign. I was surrounded by people that I would not choose to associate myself with for fun and whom I had little in common with. Many of the people at church could have been interchangeable with the geriatric hens from campaign HQ. I had no interest in making small talk or in socialising with any of them.
(Ironically, the reading today was about extending kindness not just to people who can do things for you in return, but in being there for the sick, the destitute, the oppressed, and the lonely. I have no qualms with that. But the Bible is strangely silent on extending kindness to the annoying, the petty, the busybodies, and the passive agressive.)
I do like church, and I do like politics, but the socialising that is expected in both can very easily get on my nerves. If I am at church alone or with people I know and trust and like, or if I am working on something political under the same circumstances, I am fine. But I haven't got the wherewithal to do it on a regular basis and on demand the way a priest or a politician is expected to.
So it's probably best that I didn't become either.
I did enjoy having lunch with RP and his wife and the rector from this morning though.
And I enjoyed a long sweat in the sauna that seems to have helped the crick in my back. Perhaps tomorrow I will be back to running up mountains.
I was at church this morning having been invited by Renaissance Priest, and was reminded of being back in Mackay on the campaign. I was surrounded by people that I would not choose to associate myself with for fun and whom I had little in common with. Many of the people at church could have been interchangeable with the geriatric hens from campaign HQ. I had no interest in making small talk or in socialising with any of them.
(Ironically, the reading today was about extending kindness not just to people who can do things for you in return, but in being there for the sick, the destitute, the oppressed, and the lonely. I have no qualms with that. But the Bible is strangely silent on extending kindness to the annoying, the petty, the busybodies, and the passive agressive.)
I do like church, and I do like politics, but the socialising that is expected in both can very easily get on my nerves. If I am at church alone or with people I know and trust and like, or if I am working on something political under the same circumstances, I am fine. But I haven't got the wherewithal to do it on a regular basis and on demand the way a priest or a politician is expected to.
So it's probably best that I didn't become either.
I did enjoy having lunch with RP and his wife and the rector from this morning though.
And I enjoyed a long sweat in the sauna that seems to have helped the crick in my back. Perhaps tomorrow I will be back to running up mountains.