So here's the scene. After winding down from work on Friday night, I get to bed about 3:30 - 4:00 in the morning. Once the sun comes up I'm waking up about every hour or so, not the greatest of sleep. My wife and kids decide to start attacking me around 10:30 or so to get up for the day. We decide to go out and enjoy the afternoon as a family and grab lunch at a family friendly establishment. We start driving around town throwing out ideas for lunch to go to, nothing sounded good, so we cross state lines into Kentucky. We drive miles down a two lane state highway, highway 79, heading into Guthrie then into Russellville. The few houses along the route are outnumbered by the silos there storing the grain from the countless acres of wheat and corn fields along the route. We pass the sign "Welcome to Russellville, Kentucky. est. 1798" and we are in a quaint little town riddled with houses that have either reached, or are getting ready to pass, the century mark. To the right is a large, elegant cemetery with old headstones hidden by the newer, larger headstones. To the left is Adelle's Southern Gourmet Food. We'd been driving now for about 40 minutes or so and figured it was time to stop and grab some lunch. Enter family stage left.
The building appears to have been a lodge of some sort before with the setup on the inside. The inside was recently modeled with large 3x3 granite tiles on the floor and cherry wooden tables and chairs. There was one other table occupied as we entered, so not too busy at all. We go in and place our orders, everybody enjoying themselves. Fried dill pickles were great, steak was tender and catfish was not dry. A great place to eat with nice and friendly service. It is at this time that the dining experience becomes a bit more interesting. As we are finishing up our meals and debating if we want to get puddin' pie, another couple in their late 30s or early 40s walk in and sit a couple tables away from us. The woman sits facing us and the gentleman sits with his back. After they order their drinks, he seems uncomfortable and moves to the chair next to him, seeming to position himself farther away from us. We then hear the woman say "stop it, she's here with her family trying to have a good time. Let it go." Before their drinks are brought out, they get up and leave.
For those of you who do not know, my wife is a Pagan. She has been practicing Paganism for most of her life. Just like most Christians, she is proud of her religion and her beliefs and is not afraid to express herself. Some Christians have a cross hanging from a chain around their neck or some other form of apparel advertising their beliefs. My wife proudly wears a pentagram (a five pointed star enclosed in a circle) to express her religion. It is a common misconception that this is a sign of the Devil. On the contrary, Pagans don't believe in the Devil so they don't have a symbol for him. Christians link the idea of Devil worship with pentagram and Paganism because of true misunderstanding. Paganism was practiced millenia before Christianity was a twinkle in God's eye. Satanists are more Christian than Pagans; without Christ there is no Satan. So to invoke fear into the Christians, Satanists take what is old and not quite understood and incorporate them in their "rituals".
It's sad to see intolerance still thriving in our society. I don't know if this guy thought that since we were so close to a graveyard that my wife was going to invoke the spirits of the dead to come haunt him. I can see his great grand pappy turning in his grave because if this had been 1963, it would have been my wife and family that would have been rejected service and the ignorant Cracker would have been able to stay and feel safe in his little closed box. So John Boy, if you ever come across this blog (I don't know if Russellville, KY has internet or not) try to keep an open mind about people, they can surprise you at times. We can only come out of the dark ages of ignorance and become enlightened with the truth of knowledge.
No comments:
Post a Comment