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Feb. 9th, 2006 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zesty_pintoThis morning I was offered a second treat on the subway. I say second because this isn't the first time I dealt with Mister Homeless Preacher, oh no. The first time was yesterday morning when I was too tired to read my copy of Nabakov on the way to work (his toying with styles, by the way, is utter brilliance. But I digress). As I stood around with an mp3 player keeping me zombified properly from having to look at people, M.H.P. came to my life at 59th Street station dressed in a dirty dark blue winter jacket, a snow cap, and a dolly with a post office crate bungied onto it.
Now here's another thing you should learn about the Upper West Side that also annoys me. Apparently, people must be more sympathetic to panhandlers there. I have lived in New York long enough to become damn right callous to all of them and when I have been sympathetic, it usually led to disappointment. If you're used to disappointment, perhaps from a crappy job or from having a spouse that can't get it on, then you can probably handle this better than I can. The Upper West Side trains tend to be loaded with some panhandler or another accompanied with their own theme. One of them attempts to insult your callousness, one talks about their experience in Vietnam, the list goes on. The increase in variety around there may be because of more families/tourists coming through there, who probably are still unjaded from their request for alms. As for me, the only one that ever brought me into appreciation of him was a man that carried a painting mount over his head. He walked around the streets going, "I was framed! I was framed!" Sheer hilarity.
Anyway, back to the protagonist of this ramble, M.H.P. comes into the subway with the usual loud voice that you associate with this sort of trade. This time, he begins with, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am here to ask you about the word of God!" After he says this, he pauses for a brief moment to compose himself and continues. "You may not believe that there is a God. Then tell me... who created the sun? Who created the earth? Who? Ask the scientists to tell me his name!"
This sort of thing annoys me because in the right audience this is like throwing the gauntlet down. I'm a religious fellow, but I'm not a traditional Christian (maybe a Deist Christian is what I can call myself). I don't like hearing someone using the word of God to spew out someone else's goal of intimidating people with their own beliefs. That sort of crap starts wars and massacres. But I also know that he's asking a reciprocal question: he's basically asking for someone else who can create matter out of nowhere, who would essentially also be a omnipotent entity. The option in my mind of standing up to him and blathering on at him also brought into my head a scenario of needless point/counterpoint that I know is worthless. I know it's worthless because arguing religion with someone brings to mind a game of "It's not my fault," where one person tries to say that they were the one that started it and no one is willing to listen as to why. Thankfully, he goes away at the next stop, probably to go to his next destination. Personally, though, I think it's because he runs out of things to rant to us about.
So this entry is to you, M.H.P. man. If you find a way to make religion look more plausible without offering rhetoric, then maybe I'll listen. Until that time, I'll archive you in my list of "Idiots that give Religion a Bad Name," like Osama bin-Laden, Pope Urban II, Tammy Faye, and every goddamn Scientologist in existence.
Edit:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
delennamachoo has taught me the error of my ways. Tammy Faye will not be in my shitlist anymore, unless she starts using people for her gain again, in which case I place her next to Falwell and Jim Jones.
Now here's another thing you should learn about the Upper West Side that also annoys me. Apparently, people must be more sympathetic to panhandlers there. I have lived in New York long enough to become damn right callous to all of them and when I have been sympathetic, it usually led to disappointment. If you're used to disappointment, perhaps from a crappy job or from having a spouse that can't get it on, then you can probably handle this better than I can. The Upper West Side trains tend to be loaded with some panhandler or another accompanied with their own theme. One of them attempts to insult your callousness, one talks about their experience in Vietnam, the list goes on. The increase in variety around there may be because of more families/tourists coming through there, who probably are still unjaded from their request for alms. As for me, the only one that ever brought me into appreciation of him was a man that carried a painting mount over his head. He walked around the streets going, "I was framed! I was framed!" Sheer hilarity.
Anyway, back to the protagonist of this ramble, M.H.P. comes into the subway with the usual loud voice that you associate with this sort of trade. This time, he begins with, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am here to ask you about the word of God!" After he says this, he pauses for a brief moment to compose himself and continues. "You may not believe that there is a God. Then tell me... who created the sun? Who created the earth? Who? Ask the scientists to tell me his name!"
This sort of thing annoys me because in the right audience this is like throwing the gauntlet down. I'm a religious fellow, but I'm not a traditional Christian (maybe a Deist Christian is what I can call myself). I don't like hearing someone using the word of God to spew out someone else's goal of intimidating people with their own beliefs. That sort of crap starts wars and massacres. But I also know that he's asking a reciprocal question: he's basically asking for someone else who can create matter out of nowhere, who would essentially also be a omnipotent entity. The option in my mind of standing up to him and blathering on at him also brought into my head a scenario of needless point/counterpoint that I know is worthless. I know it's worthless because arguing religion with someone brings to mind a game of "It's not my fault," where one person tries to say that they were the one that started it and no one is willing to listen as to why. Thankfully, he goes away at the next stop, probably to go to his next destination. Personally, though, I think it's because he runs out of things to rant to us about.
So this entry is to you, M.H.P. man. If you find a way to make religion look more plausible without offering rhetoric, then maybe I'll listen. Until that time, I'll archive you in my list of "Idiots that give Religion a Bad Name," like Osama bin-Laden, Pope Urban II, Tammy Faye, and every goddamn Scientologist in existence.
Edit:
delennamachoo has taught me the error of my ways. Tammy Faye will not be in my shitlist anymore, unless she starts using people for her gain again, in which case I place her next to Falwell and Jim Jones.
