day twenty-seven

I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only one who has collected so much, well, junk, around themselves. It's not like I'm Fred Sanford and just collect it; what invariably happens is that there are things that I end up with that I don't want to throw away just yet, or need to put in a particular place. So when I'm cleaning around the house, I'll just pick it up off the floor or wherever it is and put it in, typically, a shoebox. And after awhile, those shoeboxes just add up. I have kept personal letters, notes, and cards from everyone for years, but the box that held this stuff has just gotten bigger, and even though I didn't get rid of a whole lot, it is definitely a light and more organized shoebox now. The yo-yo was just a cheap christmas toy that I was hanging on to.
I found an H.P. Lovecraft quote in this box that I must have written down a long time ago, and even now, I still ascribe to it. First of all, let me say I don't dislike people who are missionaries, or particularly religious; they're usually upstanding, trustworthy, reliable citizens, whom I respect. My deal is that I don't like being evangelized to; in fact, I find it insulting. For one, I don't come up to you and evangelize, why would you come up to me and do the same? Besides, evangelizing seems like such a worthless enterprise. I've read that Jehovah's witnesses believe that only 144,000 people make it to heaven. If that's the case, why on earth are they going door to door? They are reducing their chances of getting there. There are admonitions in the bible to do this, in particular the last verses in the book of Matthew. The problem I have isn't going out and baptizing people in someone's name (or whatever your particular evangelism calls for), the problem is that you are essentially telling them they will go to hell if they don't accept what you say. That to me is unacceptable, and a false choice. To me a similar statement would be, "If you don't do what I say, then you are a terrorist".