Last night I was invited by my father to attend an atheist meeting. AN ATHEIST MEETING? Yes, those exist. I have always found it slightly odd considering I nor he is an atheist, but I went just for kicks. I did not know all of the people there and was a bit weary about how the rest of the evening would unfold. When meeting new people there are two things you don’t talk about: 1. Religion 2. Politics. Why? Because the conversation proceeds in a series of concentric circles and ultimately someone gets offended. You have then made and cut ties simultaneously. Well, you know what happened? It’s not what you think…
To kick off our two hour long conversation, the topic of the Palestine versus the Israelis came up. Oy vey! Yes! Let’s bring both of the no-no’s to the table! It was also wonderful that one of the women happened to be of Jewish heritage. Jackpot. That discussion lead nowhere of course, but it was fun and entertaining nonetheless. Other topics that ensued were healthcare, government control, libertarianism, and health in general. This conversation was down right hilarious. Here you have a Filipino (spelling??) 24-year-old man who claims to be a conservative libertarianism and who thinks not having healthcare is keeping him healthy. Then you have this joy of a 60ish-year-old Jewish woman who is SO SASSY with her long, french-manicured nails and lip gloss painted to perfection whip out comebacks like nobody’s business. Then there is daddy who can explain himself to bits and won’t stop until you understand where is coming from. Then there is me. I’m the rambler’s daughter who they assume agrees with everything her father says because he is my father. I do to some extent but I admit I am a bit slow on the certain topics because I like knowing that the foundation of a thing can support its roof so, I tend to reverse the conversation to the elementary components. Annoying, but necessary. Overall, this conversation should have been televised to bring giggles to America.
What this was was a wonderful time of conversation. Heated banter and intelligent conversation happened tonight. No one was insulted. No slurs were thrown. No love was lost. Everyone left joking, laughing, hugging out the door of the restaurant. It was our differences that brought everyone together, not our similarities. Weird. That has honestly never happened to me. It was refreshing. Similarities do bring us together, but in this case, it was our acceptance of those differences that did the same. A bond was made among us because we stopped talking and listened. There was minimal interrupting of each other. It was mature, calm, collected, and civilized. How ironic.
