It seems that no matter where my day takes me or what events occur in it's duration, a daily trip to town is an inevitable factor that I can never seem to avoid. Be it to the grocery store, gas station, post office, bank or one, if not both of our local hardware shops, a daily hop skip and a reluctant jump to at least one of these locations is a universal constant in my life from which there is no apparent escape.
A couple of days ago one of my destinations was Labonne's, our local market. Nothing significant, mind you. Just a quick jaunt to pick up some milk, Munchos and an impulse purchase of those three pack chocolate chip cookies I used to get in the high school cafeteria.... you know the ones. That part of my excursion for junk food and moo juice went just as expected as well as uneventful. It was on my way home that this week's Observation took place. While attempting to make the nearly impossible left out of the parking lot onto Route 6 (ask anyone who lives here... it ain't easy) I noticed the car in front of me sharing my fate had a W.W.J.D? bumper sticker (What would Jesus do?... for those with granite housing accommodations) on the drivers side and a Christian Democrat sticker on the right. With the foremost lane clear, the driver in front of a dozen or so cars in our desired lane stopped to let at least the man in front of me and his passenger, I assumed was his wife, out of the lot. Waving a thank you to the courteous driver, he proceeded on his way out into traffic until an operator, two cars behind the head of the line, decided that she wanted no part of the niceties of patience, pulled into the shoulder, came around the cars in front of her and cut the gentleman off at the double yellow line.After the initial two second shock of what could have happened in front of me wore off, my mind went immediately to the bumper sticker. What a true test for the question it posed. To stop or in this incident, hit the brakes hard, take a deep breath and contemplate... What would Jesus do if this happened to him in this day and age? In this particular case it appeared to me, my fellow Observers, that apparently what Jesus would have done was flip off the other driver with both hands, while laying on the horn with his elbow, yelling obscenities out of the open window in front of the little old lady that waved him on, his spouse, the driver going right out of the lot and the family walking their dog down the sidewalk. That's what Jesus would have done.
Again my mind went back to the bumper stickers and I surmised that one of two possibilities was true. Either he just purchased the car and hasn't gotten around to removing the stickers or he really doesn't practice what he preaches. Unfortunately the latter is presumably the truth. Especially if he roots for the GOP. The democrat sticker would have been the first thing to go if he even purchased the car in the first place from a liberal....EWWWW! It would have had to have been sanitized from the wheels up to get rid of all the bleeding heart cooties!
Now understand, I don't have a problem with what Mr. Bumper Sticker did. His reaction was perfectly normal towards an inconsiderate, self important diver that we all have to endure from time to time. It's simply a reflex of frustration and anger. No, my problem lies with the self righteous attitude that these people take by placing bumper stickers in my view that preach patience and understanding while at the same time I witness them react in a way towards others who they think wronged or offended them that they would, in turn, shake their judging heads and fingers finding fault in me for doing the same.
Let's put aside the preaching part, shall we? The question on the top of my list is, why would anyone want to promote their beliefs or religion on the back of their car to begin with? I will say that I do find the Christian Conservative stickers informative and I appreciate the heads up, but other than that I don't see what purpose they serve. I mean, really.... Who cares if the person in front of you is a Christian cowboy, patriot, rocker, trucker, teacher, nurse, plumber or barber? I also don't care to be informed that they think Jesus is inside the car with them, if they're "protected", "forgiven", "blessed", or "powered by Christ". And enough already with the fish and the footprints... ok? I've heard both stories about the one set of prints and the fish at the wedding more than once. I don't need the visuals as well. They even have footprint stickers with fish in the prints for chrissakes! I wonder what these bible thumpers would think about that fish sticker if they knew that before Christianity adopted the fish symbol it was used by pagans and know as the "Great Mother" symbolizing the womb and fertility? How they made the connection to Jesus, I'll never know. I'm also getting pretty fed up with the ones that suggest to "Ask me about my church.". Why would I want to do that? Doesn't seem like a hot topic of conversation to me. I'm thinking about getting behind one of these idiots, honking my horn, getting them to pull over and motioning them to roll down their window so I can ask.... just to see their reaction. I wonder how long it would take the cops to get there?
It's all very confusing to me, my loyal reader. Isn't someone's belief in a god an intimate feeling if not a personal relationship between them and a higher power? Isn't that what faith is all about? That's what all my catholic relatives told me when I was growing up. Why would you want to publicize that? It seems to cheapen the whole practice to me. Turns it into a public relations kind of thing. For the way things are going for the Christians lately, maybe god does need a good publicist. The politicians certainly aren't helping him out with both sides invoking his name in every speech trying to get elected. If god is smart he'll keep his distance from either of them. And even if god does need a little help promoting his business, It would seem to me that he could do a lot better than slapping his or his son's name on the back of a Toyota.
When it comes down to brass tacks, religion and belief are simply a matter of choice. Individually we are presented with a theory, orthodox, modified or otherwise and we personally choose to believe it or not. What one person chooses to call fact does not lend any credibility nor does it disprove it to the next person. Some choose to believe that there is only one religion. Some believe there is a certain amount of truth in all. Some choose their own ideals while affiliating with no designated church and still others choose not to believe at all. This philosophy also applies to any belief going around. I personally still believe in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Jack Frost and the occasional pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. I've had some recent doubts about the Tooth Fairy, but that's another article. I also like to think, despite newly uncovered information to the contrary, Nessie is still swimming around Loch Ness and Sasquatch still walks our woodland areas. I have to say that I find more credibility and solace in these myths than I do with religion. That doesn't mean the guy or the gal sitting next to me in the movie theater has to believe in them because I do. They do, on the other hand, have every right to believe in whatever they want and as long as they don't push their beliefs on me, penalties offset as far as I'm concerned. That's the whole point. Believe what you want to believe. God or no god, Santa or no Santa, Yeti or no Yeti. Belief comes down to choice. If your belief is a comfort to you, you are steadfast in your practice of it and revel in it's reassurance, I'm happy for you. Your the only person your belief should matter to. If, however, you feel the need to get everyone else around you to follow that belief in order to validate it, you may want to reconsider what you have chosen to put your faith in. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, Redbox has Finding Bigfoot.
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