My neighbor had a walk lined with peonies. One day while she was admiring them, a large insect got into her hair, unnoticed by her. She went inside and the insect was still with her.
Even when she lay down for a nap, it was still there. She told me that she felt something in her hair. She thought it might be a leaf. But when she reached up to brush it away, she felt an enormous bug. She was horrified, jumped up, brushed it off and stomped on it.
For the rest of the day, she said everything she felt or touched felt like an insect. She had a morbid fear of them already, and this incident only made it worse.
This took place about 70 years ago, yet I think of it when I see the reaction of those emerging from cults or sinful situations.
My friend Joy had been a bartender in her father's saloon. "I sent many people to hell," she told me. She had been a very rigid and devoted Catholic and was horrified when I told her that a talk with a Catholic friend of mine was a turning point in my Christian life.
Joy would over-react to Catholicism and to any drinking of alcoholic beverages. I had been reared in the Methodist church, so I sympathized in general, but not to the extent of her extreme feelings.
I remember my father giving advice to my sister before she worked on her first job. He told her she must be tolerant of the many lifestyles of the people she would meet. "You mean that people can drink beer and still be nice?" she asked. Who but a Methodist or Baptist could ask such a question?
I totally support the stand of those who wish to abstain, but not on those who demand it of others.
Oh,oh, I just risked being called a loose-living liberal!
To anyone feeling this way, I would suggest they perfect their own lives. As for terrible people like me who believe in tolerance, I say, if you don't like someone's style of life, "Don't let it "bug" you."
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