Quote:
Originally Posted by Lonestar9
What?? Place in the community?? Are you the mayor of your city? Sheriff? Preacher? Sounds like you have some very irrational religous people as friends, to think that Pokemon has something to do with the devil...
Good grief! I'm at a loss of words.
Hey, you gotta do what you think is best, but this is one of oddest posts I've read...
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I can absolutely understand how that can sound odd to some one who hasn't had to be in this sort of position. You just about pegged it, actually: I am a minister (though not a pastor), and take care of children and teenagers at my church.
It's not that I have irrational religious people as friends (I choose my friends more carefully than that), but I have to aid, serve, work with, or just plain interact with the general public who
may be irrational religious people (or just irrational people, period). If something should come up, I can try to explain... But as the saying goes, "You can't reason some one out of something they didn't reason themselves into." I don't hide anything, but I'm cautious in what I reveal and how I do so.
Many (most?) people can afford to have a "take it or leave it" approach when it comes to how others perceive them. I used to, myself. When my pursuits were much more "lone wolf"ish, I could do anything I cared for without apology, but now I have to be careful. If I'm not, that could seriously affect my pursuits to be of service to those people, or the people around them. It could even effect how others associated with me are able to do so. We can only serve people if they allow us to do so (and in the case of kids, if their parents allow us to do so). Considering the consequences of the alternative, diplomacy is a small price to pay.
I have similar concerns when it comes to business, but they're far less important to me.
I don't believe in catering to irrational people, but sometimes we have to pick our battles. Fortunately, not every one is in the same position as me. (Fortunately, the position and reputation I keep allows me to have some influence when defending those who are standing up for sanity in more defiant ways.)