So, funny story. If you haven't already figured it out, or you don't know anything about me yet - I am an atheist. Please keep in mind that I am not the stereotypical atheist, I only identify as an atheist because I do not believe there is a "God". If you have looked around my blog for any amount of time, you will see that I am a lover of knowledge, logic, reason, comprehension, understanding. Those things and a "God" just don't go well together. You can't listen to logic and reason and look at a fossil and still believe some "heavenly power" has a part of it. C'mon now. No offense if you do, that's your thing. But I don't, and that's my thing. I can really appreciate people on their own level of goodness when God has nothing to do with it. If you pull over to help me with a flat tire, I am going to think you are a good person - no matter WHAT religion you proclaim to believe in. You could be a devil worshiper, and if you help me out on a human level, I will thank you and probably reward you in some way, shape or form. I am just non-denominational in my way of thinking. SO, in return, when I do something nice for someone, I want to be recognized as doing something nice for them on a personal level instead of a religious level. If I stop to help you change your flat tire, I would like to hear "Thank you, you are so kind" instead of "Thank the Lord in Heaven that you came to help me today".
So, here's the funny story. My man had found a wallet in a KFC in Portland. He picked it up and looked inside and the woman's ID said she lived in Salem. For those of you not familiar with Oregon, Salem is about a 45 minute drive. He decided that we would go to the address on her ID and hand her her wallet. Good Samaritan, right? So he picked me up and we went to Salem on this adventure. As we were on our way, I was looking through the wallet for a phone number or some way we could get a hold of her to tell her we were on our way. I found a check book with JESUS checks in it (I mean, animated pictures of JESUS). There was her phone number. I called and left a message and as soon as I hung up, my man and I started laughing. Oh dear, here we go. We are going all the way to Salem to return this woman's wallet, and she is going to say to us that God had something to do with it. Great. So, we get a call back from her and agree to meet her at the Walgreen's near her house. We drive up and she is standing in the parking lot. We drive up to her and hand her her wallet through my passenger side window. As she accepts her returned wallet, she is raving about how thankful she is that we helped her out. My man and I were pleased! She was thanking us instead of thanking God. It was beautiful! She even gave me a gift certificate for her bead business. I was surprised that we stood there for 5 minutes talking and she didn't mention the Lord's name once. Then, as we are saying our goodbyes, her husband decides to chime in (like we knew he would) and say "All I've got to say is - God is good!" I looked at my man with that face, that "what do I say" face - and he leans over to speak for the first time and says "Well, we're atheists - and we're good too!" I swear, that seemed like the funniest thing they had ever heard. They said "That's good!" as we drove away, and we could hear them laughing all the way during the drive out of the Walgreen's parking lot.
So, the moral of the story is - no matter what religion you claim, make sure to thank people on a personal level for things they have done to help you out. It makes them feel a lot better about themselves and their actions, and will probably promote those actions in the future! :)
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2 comments:
i like this story :). jesus checks.. haha. even NAN doesn't have jesus checks (well that's probably cause they cost more). but still. but i really think it's cool of you that you did that... bc all i would have done is given it to the kfc peeps. which is kinda dumb bc bakers lost my keys when i left them there. ha.
love, ko
I like the story. i too thank you for taking that wallet as far as you did. But the lord, god you spoke of was most likely the christian or most commly believed God, in america. that should be no reason for you to resent people for saying that. i am agnostic not atheist becuz there must be something that created physics the laws of the universe. it might not be a deity it might be a huge computer but something allowed the laws of the universe to be created. if you have time to read books i suggest you read a book called Calculating God. But next time some1 tells u "Oh thank god, God is good" and you think "Aww poor thing doesnt even know" also think that they must be saying the same about you. Ignorance is universal, knowledge is going against the grain.lol
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