Thailand and Cambodia settling differences? Just when many in the Middle East, Indonesia, and the United States are coming together and dare to have a bold new vision for a better future for Gaza, my own neighbors get all warlike, or should I say warlock! I’m not sure?
It was a quiet afternoon last weekend and I was settled into my chair reading up a storm when my husband says,”let’s go for a walk.” I hate exercise of the physical type but just like vegetables, I know it’s good for me. “Wait a minute while I get my sneakers, a sweater” and any other thing I can think of to stall the inevitable.
I was feeling a bit stiff and tired after sitting in my chair for way longer than I should have. I had also been on my feet a great deal this past week preparing for luncheon guests, and my monthly church craft class. I was looking forward to relaxing and catching up on a favorite romance novel, a book of Russian political analysis and news headlines from around the world. Some people binge watch Netflix, I binge read.
I was walking at a snail’s pace when I came up with a clever ruse to find another reason to take a break. I suddenly worked up an unquenchable desire to stop for a minute to check on a neighbor’s progress building a backyard structure. “Oh look honey, the neighbors are making progress on their Japanese tea house.” My husband wanted to see more and noticed Pritchard’s* garage door open which was code for it’s okay to stop by and say hello.
Pritchard had an open invitation to all his neighbors that if his garage door was open, he was working in his workshop or in some way was available for some friendly neighborhood gabbing.
We found Pritchard serenely in meditation next to his fountain and koi pond. Somehow I knew this was not going to end well. My husband and I warmly greeted Pritchard and my husband requested a tour of the Japanese tea house currently under construction. He began this addition in his garden which has many Asian influenced architectural features this spring. He and his British born wife Fergie* share a huge love of all things Asian, especially Asian best-selling books, philosophy, art and garden design.
Thrilled that I might be invited to sit down for a while, I waxed poetic with complements concerning his tea house. He originally intended to complete the structure to coincide with his wife Fergie’s summer citizenship party. She had suddenly decided after many years of living in the United States that she wanted to become a United States citizen. However, Pritchard was not able to complete the tea house in time for guests to enjoy a cup of tea served in traditional style within this structure.
Pritchard invited us into his Japanese tea house to sit down and enjoy the lovely fall afternoon. Pretty soon his wife came out of the house to check and see if Pritchard had started the barbeque grill yet. Seeing she had visitors she jauntily strided over to greet us and to offer us a drink, not of tea but of the alcoholic type. It was pretty quickly apparent that in late afternoon she was already sloshed when she started to slur her words.
Before I noticed that, I opened conversation with some traditional greetings, congratulated her on the tea house progress, and asked her how her latest painting project was going. Fergie was an artist. I half expected her to offer us a ceremonial tea greeting when I realized she had a gin and tonic in her hand and was more likely inclined to ask us to party along with her
It started out cordial. She at first engaged in all the usual small talk concerning her husband’s building acumen, her artist block and then with no warning at all, she pointed her bony finger at me in a rather teacherly way and loudly exclaimed, “you’re wrong!” She went on to say that she had been “thinking of me a lot lately, a lot,” (note:creepy) and that I was “simply to creative and too intelligent to be a Republican. I just wanted you to know that, there!”
This was jarring. Did she have some imaginary encounters with me in an alcohol-soaked hallucination? Did my attributes blow the stereotypes that she had harbored about Conservatives, Christians and Republicans? Were all the dominos that she had set up in her philosophy of life falling down around her?
My husband stood up and said that “perhaps we should go now.” I said, “no, I would rather not leave like this.” I have had many conversations with threatening fingers pointed at me in Westchester County New York over the years when I dared to state my political or religious leanings. While I noticed there was freedom to speak of, promote and advance the Marxist democratic narrative in Westchester there was no accompanying freedom to state the other point of view. The threatening environment that I see growing around me now has its origins in the places like New York where I was born and raised. That is why I got the heck out of there when the life and death clarity that COVID brought was full upon me.
I had asked God to bring me to the place where he wanted me to be. I beseeched him to give me rest and Christian fellowship in my new home. Most importantly, I did not wish to be anywhere that God did not anoint. For the most part, my post-New York exodus, has been a wonderment to me filled with a supportive Christian environment. I see signs of the Christian lifestyle all around me. I see parents trying to raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, I see businessmen and women showcasing their Christian beliefs in decisions that they make. I have seen baptisms in the pools of the neighborhood and I have seen people tying to make a difference for Jesus everyday.
But, I was not quite in heaven yet and until then I have to face people’s ill-mannered pronouncements and threatening mannerisms. It does seem that people who are of the left persuasion have upped their game and have become scary. I never felt scared of the debate or of standing up for my principles before. It seems scary out there and I found myself feeling those emotions after my conversations with Fergie. Could it be that all the attacks on Christians, death threats and killing of conservatives around the world has finally gotten to me?
My Christian husband tried to leave as soon as the situation began to escalate. I was hoping that instead of leaving my husband would use his skills to stand up to the situation or to diffuse the situation. But,when Pritchard offered him leave to see his latest drill bits my husband and Pritchard both slithered away quickly. My husband is a conflict avoider and would rather keep good relations with a neighbor even if it means not illuminating a much needed Christian point of view or conservative economic principle. It felt like a Peter moment when Peter denied knowing Jesus. Furthermore, my husband took the easy route and went along with a joke that Pritchard made at my expense about having a video he took at Fergie’s summer party without my permission. I felt betrayed. In one last over the top and shocking act, as my husband was making his escape with Pritchard to the safety of the man cave, Fergie happened to reach out and touch my husbands stomach as she objectified him in full view of her own husband. It appeared that all of Fergie’s inhibitions were gone and her husband and my husband would rather look the other way.I don’t call this Confessions of a Westchester Christian Housewife for no reason!
I stayed in the tea house and tried to remain calm and to counteract Fergie’s excited attitude. I answered her point for point in a sort of political gladiator match. It felt like FOX versus CNN. It felt like good versus evil. It felt like an unbreachable divide. Fergie lectured me that I need to know both sides of the political situation. She was mildly shocked to hear that I started out as a Democrat before becoming a Republican. She asked me what made me change? She had a lot of questions and pronouncements. I felt like I was on trial for something, but what for?
She told me that I was too creative and smart to be a Republican, I countered with telling her she has a stereotype of Republicans and it is insulting. I told her that using all of my intellectual capabilities resulted in the decision to join the Republican Party. She was shocked.
When she continued to infer that I did not know both sides of the issues, I told her that I was at one time politically active for the Democratic Party. I did indeed examine both sides of various issues and I was well acquainted with the answers both parties recommended. Furthermore, I was quite certain that I had come to the truth of the matter.
She was probably most offended when I said I knew the truth. That was like a Ponius Pilate moment I think. I got the feeling that just like that Roman Governor she wondered how I could be so bold as to be in possession of any truth. Implication being that both Pontius and Fergie were that much smarter and sophisticated.
She asked me how deep I was into this, as if it is a cult. I decided to go for it and say I am MAGA all the way. She was shocked and then exclaimed what is MAGA? That might have been a funny moment because as much as the left hates Donald Trump and people who called themselves part of the MAGA movement, many of them have no idea what it is. Isn’t that often how hate works? My answer on that topic was that MAGA represented a political, economic and social philosophy.
I felt impinged upon. I felt like I was on trial for being a Christian Conservative. At the end, Fergie wanted to say that I was her friend and then she hugged me. It all felt so insincere as if she had to think herself a good person by ending in an embrace. On my part, I did want to respect my husband’s wishes and maintain good relations with the neighbors. It is not flattering to my husband but true that he wants to be able to borrow drill bites or other equipment from Pritchard and he puts that as the highest good. He is at times a pessimistic Christian thinking that only God can convert and that his only role is to be a silent example of his faith. It is pretty obvious if you read my blog that I don’t agree and so my husband and I continue to debate approaches.
I shared my Christian faith with Fergie that day and previous to that day. I have been praying for her and her husband pretty much since I moved into the neighborhood and she told me that she was an atheist. I will continue to pray for her. It is now my opinion that Fergie’s sole purpose in becoming a United States citizen is to vote her communist agenda in upcoming elections. I also believe she may be an alcoholic. Is she lusting after my husband and does she kinda hate the politcal and religious views that I have? Yes. Do I forgive her? Yes. Do I forgive my husband? Yes, by the power of the Holy Spirit I carry on.
It seems today more than ever that we have to be ready to explain our faith and then we are attacked for it. Some of us are attacked emotionally and others physically. People who are not Christians know next to nothing about the basic tenets of Christianity. All that they know they learned from their professors of gender studies, their out of touch left wing news commentator, or their social media bubble. Is it too late for Pritchard and Fergie? No. We must be patient and pray and keep on telling the story of the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he can transform lives.
* an asterisk indicates the name has been changed for the sake of privacy.
