Comments | portlandpiglet: Time to smudge the garden and get rid of the bad vibes.

portlandpiglet

Time to smudge the garden and get rid of the bad vibes.

Sep 19, 2008 14:29

This morning, as I sat crocheting in front of the tv in my jammies, there was a knock at my door. A middle-aged Sarah Palin look-alike was at my door. Behind her stood a 30-something woman holding a binder and a 3-year-old girl with a Suri Cruise haircut. My first thought: political or religious? We'd made eye-contact through the window, so I ( Read more... )

real life, pagan, feminist

Comments 4

thedragonweaver September 19 2008, 22:43:26 UTC

I am reminded of a column that Mom clipped for me one day. The writer writes science columns on creepy crawlies, and somebody had asked how his family felt about the deal. He went on to talk about his son's pet tarantulas and his wife's herpetology studies, and hey, there's a funny story about that...

Apparently, she was handling a small non-poisonous snake one day when the doorbell rang. Rather than yell out the door for them to wait, she stuffed the snake down her bra and opened the door to find two Jehovah's Witnesses there. Well, just about then the snake bit her on the nipple, so she yells, tears her shirt off, and is flailing around the front yard with a snake hanging from her breast, whereupon the JW's decamp with alacrity ( ... )

dr_tectonic September 19 2008, 23:21:44 UTC

I think it's the idea of having your sanctuary invaded.

Yes. Particularly with your mention of the SP look-alikeness, it sounds like they were giving off a strong vibe that you could easily infer would turn hostile if you had an open discussion. In other words, you could look at them and know "these people very likely think my beliefs are evil, and they want to talk to me about it". And that's just a really yucky thing to have thrust unexpectedly on you. (The surprise factor probably exacerbated it considerably.)

portlandpiglet September 23 2008, 17:09:17 UTC

Anyway, my usual answer to door-to-door Jesus salesmen is to say, "I'm well-served spiritually," and to wish them a nice day.

I like that!

Thanks for the comments portlandpiglet September 23 2008, 17:05:31 UTC

It's really nice to know that I'm not the only one who has a visceral reaction to door-to-door evangelists. A lot of your comments are right on: while I don't have any obligation to tell them anything, it sucks to be untrue to myself. Maybe they didn't deserve the effort of the awkward conversation that would have followed, but I DO deserve to put that effort towards myself. Using the word "pagan" with them would have felt rebellious to me -- like I was trying to piss them off -- and I feared that they would be energized by it. But why should the label I've chosen for myself seem immature and rebellious to myself? So maybe this is a little bit of a check-in for me about how comfortable I am with my own spirituality right now ( ... )