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Me Tarzan: You Conditional Indignation


Bought a roti today [Dec. 20th, 2012]. A chicken one with slight pepper. After all, it IS Christmas and there is NO WAY –in my house – that we are going to grocery shop, clean house and then COOK at the same time. Forget it! As I waited, I did the customary macoing of the surroundings. My eye caught an old 2011 calendar with the picture of Hindu Deities all around it (the two I remember were Mother Lakshmi & Lord Ganesh – there may have been more). I shook my head and smirked at a new thought as I realised, we are not as plural a society [as we like to think].

Now you have to understand, this is calendar season and that’s a big deal. Right now, hundreds of supermarkets, bakeries, banks, pharmacies and [maybe] shoe stores are slipping in commemorative 2013 calendars in their customers’ shopping bags; a little “thank you for coming here” kind of thing. Of course, better service and a guilt-free discount now and again couldn’t hurt either. Many of these calendars though will feature a prominent image or collage of images of a Deity. This – no doubt - is based on the Owner’s preferred belief system. SO, it is not uncommon to get, wrapped with a rubber-band, a calendar with:

  • Christ the Good Shepherd
  • The Sacred Heart of Christ or even
  • Christ standing outside a door and knocking [Scriptural reference; “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” – Revelations 3:20; the door here, references the Heart/Soul of Mankind]


Or the FLIPSIDE, you might get a calendar with:
  • [what I call] The Divine Family [Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh]
  • Mother Lakshmi on Lotus [wealth, prosperity, enlightenment/wisdom]
  • Lord Ganesh [remover of obstacles]


Cue the problems as both sides get upset that they have to have “that thing” in their house. We are NOT a plural society. We like to think so because we haven’t slaughtered each other and because I like the children of indentured labourers. BUT, truly we aren’t. A plural society [that thinks] would know that the supermarket they love is owned by a devout [ish] Hindu and just because you get your groceries cheap there doesn’t make him less so; they would recognise that the Christian pharmacist’s bag says “Jesus is Lord” over it all during the year and a Bristol board calendar will not change this belief.

Is this a call to have a “place” for religion? … … … Honestly, I don’t know. As a Theist, I TOO believe in spreading the Word every chance I get, but the hilarity of being conditionally indignant upon receipt of a calendar is ridiculous, won’t you agree? Will a calendar of another person’s deity cause you to be more of a bastard to your fellow man [it may actually cause you to be less, all cards on the table, who knows]; is it only at Divali or Christmas or the end of the year that your eyes are opened [only to be shut again by the promise of roti or rum soaked black-cake]?

Does it matter THAT MUCH to you?
Why does it matter THAT MUCH to you?
As a [Christian] Theist, I am not oblivious to what your reasons are/maybe, but I am still exceedingly curious. 

Interestingly enough, the Roti shop’s 2013 calendar was a picture of the sea. A star fish on the sand, a pail and bucket and a sunny/golden background. Who doesn’t love [at least the idea of] the sea?

Pax





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