What a month it has been! A month of expression and lessons learned. The birthing of this blog opened a floodgate of remembrances, spiritual guidance and teachings... recently, mostly lessons on TOLERANCE and non-judgment!
The spectrum of anecdotes varied from a wide range of simple "signs", to mastering teachings. At one point during a work-trip, I was faced with a passenger trying to ascertain my religious faith in hopes of recruiting me into her huge Gateway Church. She was sitting next to me during my commuting flight from Dallas (DFW) to Chicago (ORD).
"What church do you belong to?", she asked. This is a common conversation ice-breaker in the heavily Evangelical-Republican-Bible-Belt southern million-dollar-homes suburb where this church is located, and where this lady lives. The conversation went on for the entire 2 hour flight, on matters of religious beliefs & true Christian practices. In the end, both she and I were unexpectedly surprised of how much we were actually in agreement and "on the same page" in our ideas and general concepts, of practicing our faith in our every day lives... her from her evangelical-baptist christian point of view, me from my spiritual-metaphysical New Age interdenominational belief. Perhaps being mislead by her stereotypical notion of who a Flight Attendant is, I think she was not expecting me to be one on a spiritual path. But I held my ground during our discussion and it all served to remind me as well of not judging based on preconceived notions. I too had misjudged her as soon as I heard her first remarks.
A couple of days later, during the same trip, I had a teenager girl flying for her very first time on a flight from Knoxville to Chicago, by herself as an unaccompanied-minor. She was truly unfamiliar with everything related to air travel and the airplane itself, so I helped reassure her and explained all the features of our jet and the escorting process. After all, the first time I was ever on a major flight to the USA, I was 22 years old!
During the beverage service in mid-flight of that one-hour-long flight, this girl -Bible in hand- started asking me questions about my religious beliefs... here we go again!! "Do you read the Bible?", "which Bible?", "do you even believe in God?".... all in an accusatory tone and in a machine-gun delivery approach! "The King James Bible is THE true bible and the ONLY holy scripture!"
Long story short, after me politely (and caring/smiling at her) answering each question BRIEFLY, she decided and flatly told me that I -and anyone who is not Christian BAPTIST- "were going to HELL". But that she would pray for my salvation nonetheless.... I replied: "I understand where you're coming from and I appreciate your good intentions. That is okay, and it's suitable for you; but we are free to choose our beliefs in this country, and the Baptist religion simply does not suit me at this stage of my 49-yr old life. I'm not even supposed to discuss religion while working." I politely thanked her -still with a compassionate smile on my face- and continued serving beverages to the next passenger. She was only 16 yrs old.
As that same flight was starting its final approach into ORD, another lady passenger asked me about my "Rising Star" pendant necklace. I briefly explained (again) about what it meant, and she was very receptive to the information. As she was deplaning the aircraft at the end of the flight, she handed me a handwritten note that read:
"I am getting a message -(I'm psychic/medium)- that you need to read Doreen Virtue's book on Earth Angels, because YOU are an Earth Angel and probably a High Priestess! Namaste, Anna"
LOL What a contrast! I have indeed read it and have recommended it to other people too. I got this book in Oct 10, 2010 (coincidentally matching date as the same birth-date of this blog!) after some stranger told me during a Derek O'Neill workshop we were attending, that I was an "Earth Incarnated Angel" as described in that book. Actually, I fit the description there to a T!! :-)))
“There is no harm in having many religions and faiths, but it is harmful to think that they are different and that one faith is higher and the other one is lower. Children, do not see the differences. See the unity in them and the great ideals that they teach.” ~ Amma Amritanandamayi
"Love is the answer; now what is the question?" ~ Derek O'Neill
