February 13, 2013

It's not all black and white

So there I was, lying on the operating table while the surgeon cut into my upper right cheek. There was a blue fabric over my face, with a hole cut out for the surgery. I couldn't see anything except the sky blue of the fabric.

I could speak while he worked. I mentioned that someone he'd operated on the week before was a friend of mine. The surgeon, a liberal, talkative fellow who knew of my politics and atheism, stopped cutting and exclaimed, "You're friends with him? He's a rightwing, religious loon!" I replied, "Yes, and one of the nicest guys who ever lived." This is true. The guy would help anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Some lefty types don't understand this. How can you be friends with a wingnut? But I don't have a problem in this area. It's because I have a rule. You can't talk Wingnut in my house and you can't talk about jeebus. You just can't. My friends understand this and they never break the rule.

This allows us to be not only friends, but good friends. One of my closest buddies is a Jesus freak. Goes to bible study. Would like to teach bible study, in fact. But he's the sweetest guy who ever lived and we share a moral outlook: "Help others and never hurt anyone." We are both official Good Guys, no matter our political or religious affiliation.

Wingnuts can be good people. I think some folks don't understand this. Though I rail against religious wingnuts here every day, I don't hate anyone for believing in god. I detest people who push their beliefs on everyone else, but individuals are free to believe whatever they want. I have no problem with this. I may not respect their intellectual prowess, as a result of their choices. But that has nothing to do with our friendship. We're good friends, and that's all there is to it.

Got an opinion on this? Share it in the comments.

No comments: