Ugly

It had been a hot day. Full of walking around town and 'seeing the sights'. A dip in the pool late in the evening sounded like a really good idea. So after getting back to our room, my sweetheart and I headed down.

It was a large pool - designed to swim laps (it is the "Y" after all). Over 6 feet deep at the one end, with a lane in front of me, I dove in to start swimming. Behind me I hear someone yelling. "No Diving!" Oops. I hadn't even looked for signs. Just made the assumption and took off. I pulled up and apologized to the lifeguard. Then continued swimming.

After a couple of laps he came over to the edge of the pool and told me how I could bend the rules - - just don't dive in when using the outside lanes as that overflowed water up onto the deck area. Stick to the middle lanes and I was welcome to dive in next time if I wanted to.

I did another lap as I thought. Hmm . . . . maybe he'd work with me to solve another problem that would involve bending a rule.

You see, as I had come in through the women's locker room, I was approached by a young woman. Dressed in hijab, her arms and legs fully covered too, this young muslim woman shyly looked up at me as she approached. "Excuse me?" she started. Hesitantly. "Excuse me. But could you tell me where the women's pool is?" I explained that there was only one pool. She had come into the Women's Pool Locker Room, but there was no Women's Pool. She looked so sad as she had thanked me, and turned away.

As I got into the pool, I had thought about her. My hubby and I were the only ones there. Other than the male lifeguard. My heart had sunk at that, since I had thought that if there was a female lifeguard I could ask my husband to leave for a while, and allow this young muslim woman the chance to swim.

But now, here was another possibility presenting itself. And maybe she was still hanging out in the locker room (she hadn't appeared to be leaving as I came on into the pool). So I swam across the lanes to where the lifeguard sat, hoping he'd allow me to be his eyes while he sat in the office and let this young woman swim. He seemed so willing to find a way to bend the rules to let me dive!

I began to describe the situation. And was stunned with what came out of his mouth! As soon as I mentioned that she was muslim, he became filled with anger and invective. "Those people" should go back where they came from. "Those people" should be made to leave the way they came. "Those people" have no right being here in our country. "So she wants to swim, does she? Let her go swim with Osama." I sputtered some. It took me so off guard. Then I tried to reason with him. With how I really view what it means to be an American. What it means to support religious freedom for everyone. What freedom is supposed to be about. As soon as I brought up religious freedom, the ugly american, right before my eyes, turned into the ugly Christian. The one I've been hearing about so much by all those people who have no problems with Jesus, but who can't stand Christians. He crossed himself as he spouted ugly stuff about those dirty muslims and the way they should all just be helped into hell quicker. He ended with "I make the rules here, and my rules go."

Then I got back to the room, and received that comment on my post from July 8 - "The Spirit of Love". I almost immediately deleted it. The ugly Christian strikes again. But I've left it up. Many people I know have never really experienced that kind of unloving, hate filled, ugly rhetoric. If you haven't, read the comment. (Just click on the "1 Comment" line under that particular blog entry.) Or just know that it goes on and on, and is all based on the basic premise that 'all the evil in the world is because of Woman.' I followed up a little, and discovered that the comment is actually a copying of a full post from this guy's own blog. It is ranting, wrapped up in biblical quoting. It is hatefilled and . . . pure and simple . . . non-Christ like. It is not the kind of thing that women get thrown at them so much these days (although it was more common in the past). But it is VERY much the kind of thing that our lgbt family and friends face way too often. (And for those readers who don't know that particular string of letters - it stands for lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered.)

The lifeguard. The blog commenter. These are the people who others think about when they hear "Christian." No wonder they don't want anything to do with Church. We have a lot of work to do!