After a few brief interactions with the accountant brought in at my current temp gig, I’ve decided he’s a rather uninteresting man. Reaching this conclusion was a short trip.
Our accountant gave me a funny look when I said something about a podcast I was listening to with zombies. I asked him what sort of media he consumed. He prefers biographies and histories along with some science and Christian books. (He’s from the Bible Belt.)
“I don’t waste my time on fiction.” When I asked why he said it was because “there was nothing to learn.” He’ll make the occasional exception for novels based on true events but on the whole doesn’t consider fiction worthwhile.
Sure, the only thing there is to learn is what other cultures like and value. Who wants to gain perspective on what life was like a couple hundred years ago? Why would you want to learn about something like human nature or explore ideas about dystopian futures that, as time goes on, become increasingly more plausible? What’s the point in learning about human nature through works that are enduringly popular?
If you don’t ‘waste your time’ on it, how could you possibly know if it’s worth it or not? History would tell you otherwise. If you look at the books that remained popular over the centuries, fiction dominates. Groundbreaking science and exceptional biographies stick around but in general, those books fade away with time more so than novels.
It got even better when religion got into it. I dislike people who live to go to church, read the Bible, preach the word to whoever is in the immediate vicinity, and not a whole helluva lot else. These people only socialize with those who think and act like they do and enjoy looking down on 'godless heathens' like myself.
To quote Pochantas, “You think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you.” If you have more than one friend who believes differently than you do, that statement isn’t about you.
I think you need to spend time with people who believe and think differently than you do. How strong can your faith be if it’s never challenged, if you’ve never had to think about it? How deep is your faith if most of your personal depth ends there? The world is big place. Why force your mind to be so small? To quote another song, “The world’s a better place when it’s upside down.”
The accountant said that those sort of people see God everywhere and their belief comes from a thing called faith and either you have it or you don’t. I maintain it's easy to see God everywhere if all you do is look at things that reinforce what you've always thought.
I suspect he’s the type of Christian I tend to dislike. He complained about a particular city being a haven for liberals. He probably thinks I'm some godless heathen who throws away my life on ridiculous fiction.
It’s possible that we’d have very deep and interesting chat if we’d drop our prejudices and have a real conversation. Maybe I’ll do that with someone who’s not a random middle-aged man returning to the Bible Belt in a few days.
Disclaimer: I have several friends who go to church on Sunday, practice what Jesus preached, and are all around awesome people. My beef is not with them. I've had to deal with a lot of hypocrites who use their version of god to be superior, close-minded jerks. Those people always hit a nerve. I'm still trying to find the part where Jesus said that behavior is totally cool.
Disclaimer: I have several friends who go to church on Sunday, practice what Jesus preached, and are all around awesome people. My beef is not with them. I've had to deal with a lot of hypocrites who use their version of god to be superior, close-minded jerks. Those people always hit a nerve. I'm still trying to find the part where Jesus said that behavior is totally cool.
Music: The Whole World Is Watching by Within Temptation
No comments:
Post a Comment