For the past 5 years I have been hoping that one day I would have the perfect response to door-to-door evangelists. You know, something that would convey what I wanted without the opportunity for the conversation to continue, but without me being a total asshole b/c after all, these individuals are trying to do a good thing (even though I think they are a little misguided).
The other day I think I hit pretty close to perfection. I walked out of the door with my kids headed for the van and a group of missionaries were walking up. I had no idea they were out there otherwise I would have waited until they were gone to leave. Unfortunately I was caught. Then one of my little angles asked the perfect question. “Daddy, why are they here?”
A smile came to my face as I looked at the leader of the group and said, “Oh, they were just coming to tell us some fairy tales. Unfortunately we don’t have time right now. Have a nice day sir.”
8 Comments
That’s a good one.
I’ve always been fond of “could you come back this afternoon? We’re in the middle of sacrificing a goat.”
Guess you gave up on the not-being-an-asshole part.
Nice.
Do you feel that the right way to handle that situation was to deride someone else’s most cherished beliefs in front of your children? (For transparency’s sake: I am a christian.)
Do you feel that the right way to handle that situation was to deride someone else’s most cherished beliefs in front of your children?
If by doing so, you help instill your own cherished beliefs in your children, absolutely.
You know, it is tough. On the one hand I obviously wasn’t acting in a way that would make the proselytizers feel “good”. On the other hand, I do want to instill in my children a little irreverence for organized religion (though not disdain). I also want to teach my children good humor, and I think it was pretty funny.
You know, when I put my thoughts out for the world on my blog I open myself up for criticism like being called an asshole (in all fairness, GHM’s comment was the same kind of sarcastic criticism as my original post). Well, when you walk into someone’s front yard to try and sway their beliefs you are kinda obligated to listen to whatever my response is.
Well said. Divine inspiration for sure.
We had some come to the door when Karsten was in a really depressed, down-and-out mood, and he answered the door saying “If this is about religion, I’m really not in the mood for this.” I thought they might seize the moment to try to tell him that what they had to offer could help him, but I think his bluntness caught them enough off-guard that they just turned around and left.