No means no

I haven't posted on this blog for quite a while.  I recently had a surgical procedure performed, and was in the hospital for four days.  During those four days, however, I discovered what I wanted to write about next.

Before going in for the operation, I had to fill out a series of tedious forms and verbally answer an even more tedious series of questions.  One of the questions posed to me was "Would you like to be visited by a hospital chaplain"?  My answer to this question was a resounding NO.  My decision to decline said visit was two-fold.

First, in that I was having surgery on my stomach, I knew that I was not going to be able to take communion.  In that I was going to be having this done at a Catholic hospital, I was pretty sure they were going to be shoving communion wafers in my face, and that just wasn't going to be feasible.

Second, I knew I was going to be in a severe amount of pain and was not going to be interested in talking to anyone, much less a stranger. And as a member of an ISM church, particularly one that was Gnostic/Esoteric tendencies, I was not going to want to have any sort of conversation that would end up being either antagonistic or indeed involved in any way, since I was going to be doped up.

And after having said NO, I would not like to have a chaplain visit me, I was then visited by 2-3 chaplains a day, every single day I was in the hospital anyway.

This is a photo of a man sleeping peacefully.  During my hospital stay I at no point looked like this.

 

 

Each and every day some sort of Eucharistic Minister, or some dude with a bible (usually without knocking) would just let himself into my room and come up and annoy me while I was sleeping, or watching reruns of Law & Order: SVU. 

 

If you've ever woken up to see a stranger standing two feet from you holding a communion wafer less than a foot from your face, let me tell you, it can be quite rage inducing.  And I'm religious.  Imagine how someone would feel who isn't a church goer getting woken up with a stranger standing in their room waving a Jeez-It in their face. 

 

While my memory of those days isn't very good, as I mentioned previously I was rather doped up, I'm pretty sure I didn't throw anything or scream obscenities at the chaplains.  Perhaps I should have, maybe that would've encouraged the rest to leave me the hell alone.

 

While a certain level of evangelism is somewhat expected in the Christian community, its obnoxious.  Anyone who has looked outside of a peephole and seen Mormons or JWs standing outside their door know this.  If someone doesn't want to talk to you about religion, leave them alone.  There is nothing wrong with wearing your faith on your sleeves so that if someone is interested they can seek you out, but if someone says "Hey, that's nice, but seriously I'm not interested" that means don't bother them anymore.

 

Treat people how you'd like to be treated.  That's a rather important Christian concept. 

I'm not one to quote scripture, but sometimes it needs quoting: Matthew 7:12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

No means no.