Thursday, September 21, 2006

It was bad enough having to get up at 4:45 AM to make it to the airport for a 6:45 AM flight. On top of that, I knew the plane was going to be one of those small ones, because the airline recently (for some ungodly reason) switched over all of their flights between Chicago and Hartford from normal, safer-feeling planes to the tiny, wobbly ones where you can barely hear yourself think over the engine noise. I'd also forgotten to medicate myself, it being so early and all.

I had a driver to take me to the airport, and noticing his foreign accent, I started to chit-chat with him, asking where he was from and the like (he was Bulgarian). Halfway to the airport, he suddenly--and OUT OF NOWHERE, I might add--asks me, "Do you believe in God?" Now, aside from the fact that this is a highly inappropriate question for a service provider to ask his customer (who is TRAPPED in his car with no escape), my immediate reaction to this question was an overwhelming feeling of being in a bad made-for-TV movie, this scene being the one that foreshadows my forthcoming doom in the rickety plane I am on my way to board.

I made the mistake of telling him I was an agnostic (which I then had to define for him). He went on to preach to me for the entire remainder of the car ride, basically telling me that if a person *really* wants to find God, he will (no shit). To add insult to injury he alluded to his being a veterinarian by training and thinking that evolution was ridiculous (WRONG way to approach the religion topic with me, sunshine). As we pulled up to the terminal, he said he was sorry we didn't have more time, and that perhaps we would meet again, maybe he would even pick my husband and I up from the airport at Thanksgiving (we are definitely now going to drive, not fly!)

Lesson learned: next time a stranger asks me if I believe in God, I will steal a line from Frank Lloyd Wright and answer, "Yes, I believe in god. I spell it N-A-T-U-R-E."

6 comments:

Chris said...

Sounds like you were trapped with someone who was freshly converted. Did you get that sense?

Yea, he's a vet... that's a little better than him being a heart surgeon with so much faith in healing he tells the patient on the way to surgery, "well, I will do all I can, but the real healing comes from God." Eek! ;)

Your post had me laughing, parcicularly the comment about your reaction to the anti-evolution comment, "WRONG way to approach the religion topic with me, sunshine" -- yes, he really exposed himself there. Next thing he'll be telling you (maybe on the next ride) is how Noah got all the animals on the Ark, or how the Earth is only 6000 years old based on the best Biblical science.

Mary Beth said...

Oh, what a nightmare. I'm with Chris...sounds like a newly-converted soul.

Speaking of evolution, I need you to clarify a comment I made on my own post:

http://marybeth.bernheisel.org/2006/09/disturbing.html

Kat E said...

check that post, I just replied!

As for the newly converted theory, VERY possible. I was reminded of the first 2 or so years of my dad's born-again experience, where he literally could NOT have a conversation about ANY topic without bringing Jesus into it in some way.

Kat E said...

also, welcome Chris!

Jennifer said...

Wow. I was laughing out loud too; sorry it was at your expense. I hate those bad made-for-tv moments. You're a good writer, btw.

Jay said...

I have had a similar encounter in a cab. What's up with that?