Witness

I ride the bus to the Metro to get to work.  There’s a nice woman who takes the same bus and we talk a bit every morning about the weather, the bus and, uh, well that’s pretty much it.  This morning she wished me a “Happy Good Friday,” and I said “Happy Good Friday to you too.”  She then asked me if I observed the holiday, obviously seeking to discover if I’m a Christian.  I told her I didn’t and she said, “Well, then I guess it’s just a regular Friday for you.”  I replied, “Yes, but it’s still Friday and that’s always good.”

I thought she breached the subject in a very straight-forward, friendly, way.  When I replied in the negative she didn’t recoil in horror or go on about it.  Not many people come across my lack o’ faith in day to day encounters so it was a relief to me that it came up and wasn’t a negative experience.

For the past couple of months I’ve been wearing my Scarlet “A” pin prominently on my jacket collar.  At times it’s made me a little bit nervous as I’m always imagining that people know what it means and that they’re going to confront me.  I’m sure, though, that the odds of that happening are pretty remote and if I continue to have such friendly encounters, I’m sure I’ll feel more comfortable.  Even if I don’t, wearing the pin openly is meant to stand for something.  Positive experience or not, I will not mislead or obfuscate if the topic of religion arises and will continue to declare my lack of faith if confronted.  After all, people need to be educated and if I don’t stand up for my lack of belief, how can I expect anything to change?