July 16, 2009
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The Cutter and the Church Lady
Yesterday’s Wednesday Market in Wasilla was extraordinary for the various personal interactions which went on. My sweety blogged about one of them. I am blogging this one at her request.
Towards the middle of the afternoon, after the tour buses had left and things calmed down, a red-headed gal on a bike came up to the stand and started looking at knives. She wore no make-up and had that sorta blank look that some gingers have, who don’t have much in the way of visible eyebrows or lashes. Anyway, she seemed to know what she was doing until I saw her testing the edge of a knife by drawing it across her fingertips.
I winced and cringed. I hate it when customers cut themselves–one gun show, I logged four casualties over the weekend, one of which was me. Anyway, I showed her the safe way to test an edge, and told her the way she was doing it was a good way to cut yourself. She smiled, and replied, “I don’t mind, I used to be a cutter.”
I was floored — in shock — and, amused at her matter-of-fact tone, I burst out laughing. After I apologized, we got into an interesting and serious talk about cutting, drug addiction and other deviant behavior, brain chemistry, that sort of stuff.
At one point, religion snuck into the conversation — she said something about praying every morning for the strength not to cut herself that day.
A middle-aged Latino lady had been listening in and said “Do you read the Bible?” She then proceeded to give a little sermon on the evils of cutting oneself and suggested a bunch of Bible verses for the young woman (she turned out to be 21, by the way) to study.
I told the church lady my favorite verse was Leviticus 19:19. In response to her blank look, I explained that that was the verse which said how it was a grievous sin unto God to wear a garment woven of two different types of fiber. She was not amused.
I went on to add that there was a lot of good stuff in Exodus, too — about when it is proper to sell your daughter into slavery, and when it is okay to murder your own slaves.
Horrified, she asked “Are you Jewish?!”
Need I point out how spectacularly ignorant that remark was? Bigotry aside, I was quoting the Old Testament, for pete’s sake — that is kinda the Jewish part of the bible.
Anyway, I drew myself up, got her in my sights and replied .”Since you bring it up, no — I happen to be an ordained ULC minister AND a Native American shaman.” (Both statements are quite true.)
She backed away — mentally making the sign of the cross in my direction, no doubt — stammered “Good luck!” and made her escape.
Comments (14)
I love it! Its fun to have a multiple spiritual bases to work from.
Excellent! I loathe fundie-nuts who take it upon themselves to chastize strangers they meet on the street. It’s always fun to hear of them getting knocked down a peg or two.
Thanks for sharing this story, and for sharing so many of your stories with me.
When you are in the retail sales business I guess that you have to be polite to the borderline retarded, especially when they are bible thumpers.
Actually I am Jewish but I have not murdered my slaves recently and it might be a good thing that I don’t have any.
HA!
I hate it when bible thumpers display their freakin’ ignorance and chasitsing someone in the middle of a crowded Flea market is inexusable. It gives the rest of us a very bad name, and It puts a sour taste in my mouth!
LMFAO!!!
OMG! Are you Jewish?! I love it when people advertise there ignorance…..
I’m wander about how you can think that “racism has no future”.
Actually racism IS the future.
All multiracial society and “free africa” country are failures.
Even the USA once upon a time the greatest economy are facing a enormous crisis: crime, unemployment, growing debt, bank and corporation that bankrupt, and all is started in the ’60 with the integration of blacks and minority in american society.
USA are slowly became like a Brazil : an enormous nation, riddled by crime, poverty, drugs and people living in bidonville, like all the ”multiracial society”: miserable failures.
“racism” is just a synonymous of “logic” and “common sense” and the enormous differences between civilization and population and the stat about the IQ are the scientific, falsificable evidences.
“antiracism” it’s just a religion: a system of belief that it’s taught to you from your your infancy and resist to any proof and evidence of contrary, aka a MENTAL ILNESS
http://prometheus.greatnow.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Good to see you finally put a post on here instead of just zoklet.
Saw you dropped by, thought I’d return the favor, not having heard from you or SuSu in so long. Hope all is well.
Let’s do like Ronnie James learned to do from his Sicilian grandma and throw da hawns in her direction. Goldie Hawn and some other hawns as well.