I used to accost Jesus freaks who hung out in the subway stations wearing wooden planks and passed out end-of-the-world pamphlets. I yearned for them to suffer the shame of hearing what I thought was the truth. I couldn’t wait to show them how brainwashed and stupid they were, how IQ tests don’t measure low enough to cover these neolithics. How do you like that? Sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it?

     Well, that’s because it is… and this is who I used to be, which is amusing considering I am a Christian. But this is how pathetic and arrogant I was. I used to unleash rage against religious fundamentalists. I couldn’t fathom the assertion that someone else could “save” them, positive that only we can save ourselves. I couldn’t fathom their denial of certain anthropological facts and blind belief in things that may never have occurred. I couldn’t fathom their certainty in thinking they knew the truth about God and how everybody else was wrong and going to some Hell (including peace-loving, Buddhist monks). Do none of them consider that the concepts of Heaven and Hell could refer to our current life experience?

     The truth is that most people in the world are religious in some way and believe in a greater power. What, so everybody is a fucking moron and I know the real truth? Haha, who’s the arrogant one now? Another truth is that most religious people don’t need to ingest at least two OC 80s just to get to work in the morning. They don’t need to get plastered to have a five-minute conversation. They don’t need to sniff a bag of dope, take a few bong hits and light up a cigarette just to listen to their wife tell them about her day. Nope. But I still thought I had it all figured out.

     The sheer comedy of all this is actually watching a guy like me judging all of these people who are getting up, going to work, taking care of their families, being honest, doing service and trying to live by spiritual principles without being an absolute junkbox. These are people who can have a bad day and simply walk through it without running to the liquor store. These are people who can suffer a little without broadcasting it on the nightly news or whining about it to everyone they know. These are people who at least believe in SOMETHING. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge, considering how much I now rely on GOD.

     Bottom line: Who are we addicts and alcoholics to judge anyone? I mean look at us for God’s sake! (pun intended)

God, help me to remember that the only person I have the right to judge is myself…