An Elusive Sandman/Seeing Red Again

I'm angry now.

I had planned on writing a bit- again, the image of that little monkey haunted me from my sleep and I thought that composing some poetic piece about painful thoughts birthing creativity... I can't even finish this sentence.

Before I began my new post, I noticed that a comment had been added to one I had written just the night before. Glancing over the text, I saw that it was scripture, and assumed that some well intentioned soul had left me some encouragement, something to remind me that God is faithful when you feel alone and have lost hope in humanity. Maybe something praising me for surrendering my life to what I believe is His will... perhaps just some calming anecdotes about the purpose of suffering.

But, no. For all I know, you could be a family member. But seriously, what an asshole thing to do. Here I am, pouring my heart out for anyone to see, wrestling with faith and God and fighting off a growing hatred for human beings, and what do you do? You pull some scripture you got from the nearest vending machine and vomited some bullshit self-righteous counterpoint to what? To my dilemma in loving a species capable of inflicting so much suffering? To my worries about whether my faith will remain intact after a year of doing this kind of work (you do know I work for PETA, right?)?

You missed the point entirely, my friend. See, my post didn't say one thing about eating meat. And after all I've seen, I know what's wrong, and I'm not interested in some seminary school ethics debate. The theme of the post was clear: I'm scared. I'm scared of all the horrible things I'm going to see, and I don't have the faith to know that God will be with me in those dark, dark places. Are you getting this? Are you seeing now how that was a shitty, cheap thing to comment?

I hope so. Otherwise it's hopeless for you. You'll live your whole life steeped in your ignorance. And if you and I are close friends, family members maybe, then I apologize, but I hope this makes you think twice before you prematurely spit out scripture all over the place. It does nothing but incense the people you're trying to reach. If you're really interested in challenging their ideas, especially when it's on their turf, talk to them. Ask them questions. And more importantly, as a Christian, consider their heart primarily, not their ideas and opinions. It's Christians hitting people over the heads with their Bibles, yelling downtown of fire and brimstone and hell and damnation, that makes people despise us.

Talk about blood boiling... If you want to have a conversation, Faithfirst311, then let's talk. Let's argue, let's disagree, let's hug it out. If you want to piss me off, if you want to really enrage me, then throw another verse at me. The result? I'll just get louder (and probably swear more, too- sorry, Dad) and my commitment to the cause will become more resolute than ever. It's time to rethink your approach if you expect to be an effective communicator. Otherwise, you're just typical.

And who wants to be typical?