An encounter

An encounter

I was parked in the Kroger parking lot here in Conyers, Ga., waiting for Ed to return from a stop he needed to make.  As I sat in my car, making my brain even more dead by listening to talk radio, which seems to be saying, that the world is on the verge of being made into a smoothie, by the blender of the world situation. Just add some ice cream for flavor, and let Bush, or whoever is made the current villain, press the button.  Add that to looking out on a very crowded parking lot and well you can see my mood was not very elevated.

Like most, I suppose, I have a love, hate, relationship with strip mall architecture.  I love the convenience of it all.  For instance from my seat in the car, I can see three very fine restaurants; a Sushi bar, a Thai restaurant, and a Chinese buffet, all in one shopping mall. Strips malls do that, but they are also a blight on the landscape. Though a necessary one, considering the population density of the area that I live in. 

Well in the midst of this, just when the talk radio host was really getting anal about his political beliefs, I heard a soft feminine voice quietly saying “excuse me sir can I talk with you a short while”.  Since I have never been approached like this in a parking lot, I smiled and said ok.  At first I thought she was someone that knew me, and that I would soon be able to place her face.  However when she got closer I could see that she was carrying two non-glossy magazines in her hand.  So I said, “You are a Jehovah Witness, aren’t you?”   She said yes, smiled and started to talk.   My first impression was a very good one.  She seemed to be in her late forties or early fifties, gentle, with a kind demeanor.  Before she continued, I told her that I have studied her beliefs, and even read their magazine from time to time when sitting in doctors offices; something I do a great deal of.  She was pleased, and she gave me her little talk, I listened, and in was over in about 60 seconds.  She left me with two copies of the “Watchtower” and left.

I found my mood lighten a bit.  Not because I was even close to becoming a Jehovah Witness, but out of the simple fact that she would take the chance and approach me.  I have been similarly approached on different occasions by these people, and from my limited experience, they seem always to be gentle, kind, and respectful when speaking to me.  Funny, when I read literature about them from outsiders, they are made to be brainwashed cultist, but I don’t think that is true.  Though they are a bit too fundamentalist for me, I still find myself always enjoying my little conversations with them.

I would also think it takes a certain kind of courage to do that, approach a stranger in a parking lot and then to witness to them.  I could never do that.  I have never worn my faith on my sleeve, and don’t usually speak about it unless addressed, don’t know why, I am just shy that way.  Perhaps it is because over all I have had some pretty bad experience, from some types, who seem it is their duty to tell me I am going to hell because I am catholic.  I suppose it also takes charity for them to risk approaching strangers in the attempt to try to bring them the truth as they see it.  Perhaps love is a better word.  Even the ones who attacked me perhaps were acting out of love, though it had the opposite affect that they would have wished.  Fear never works.

I have a memory that happened in 1967, when I was on my weekend leave from boot camp.  It was a Sunday morning, and a very nice lady, perhaps in her late fifties, approached me and asked if I wanted to go to her church.  I was even back then, touched, by her obvious desire to help a young man find some truth; but I declined.  For some reason I regret doing that, she seemed the kind of person that I would have liked to know better, talk to, even if we might not agree on everything.  I am after all a man of faith.

I suppose my writing is doing some of the above for me, perhaps this late in life I need to for some reason let others what is going on within me, and one day the need will simply be gone.