Just Like God

            I tend to think of god as ineffable, too big for words. I have a brother who’s deeply religious and from time to time he leans in on me and attempts the process of conversion. But I don’t want to be converted. 
            I’m often offended by his behavior for he assumes a certain knowledge I don’t believe he has. He laughed at me when I told him I didn’t have the answers, that all I know is that I don’t know anything at all. My brother has the answers, but his answers seem more like questions to me. So, around and around it went. He tried to put me in a box and I tried not to be put in the box. He wasn't making any sense to me, and I wasn't making any sense to him.

            I asked him if he thought god was religious? “No!” he said unequivocally.

            I was relieved when he said this, he gave me an opening. “Well then I’m just like god. I’m not religious.”

            My answers didn’t satisfy him. Nothing I said satisfied him. I walked away from the conversation feeling bad, as if I had done something wrong for defending my views. 

Alopecia Areata

I haven’t heard from my friend Don in a while. The last he mentioned, he was under immense pressure from his wife to find a job. I empathized with him. I told him a story about a time in my life when my girlfriend had a shotgun barrel pointing at my head to find a job. I developed a bald patch the size of a silver dollar on the top of my head from the stress.

Don was slightly amused by story, and seemed to play it off. As time went on and the stress increased from not finding a job, I’d ask Don if he still had hair.

“It hasn’t fallen out yet, but I had to cut it to look more presentable,” he answered.

“Oh, you’re not looking hard enough,” I said, that’s what my girlfriend use to say to me.

                There’s nothing worse than trying to find a job during a recession, and it’s even more aggravating when there’s a chirping bird in the background saying “find a job, find a job, did you find a job yet?” every fifteen minutes.