Praying Properly and Speaking Acceptably In Provincial America

FORTY YEARS AGO I was in college, and spent some time in New York. One day during a class discussion I made the remark that for my money, New York city, far from being a cosmopolitan mecca of diversity, was maybe the most provincial place I had ever been. By "provincial", here it is meant narrow minded, self absorbed, unwilling to learn, unwilling to accept cultural difference. Guess it depends on how you look at it, who you meet, and your experiences. At one time or another I have described all of the half a dozen places I have ever lived, including the small town where I live now, as "provincial", except maybe Aspen, Colorado, which is in a class by itself, beyond categorization. At the senior center, the director called me in, and asked about my religious beliefs. I gave her the usual response: I follow Jefferson and Einstein, tend towards a deistic pantheistic view. She told me there were members dissatisfied with my style of prayer - we take turns praying before lunch - and asked whether I might be willing to bless the food, or something like that. My thought was that during prayer my thoughts tend more towards scarfing the food in front of me down, and letting my digestive system do the blessing. I long suspected that the seniors would eventually figure out that when I pray I make no mention of Christ's sacrifice or blood, and that therefore my religiosity might be unlike theirs, different, therefore suspect. And so it came to pass. No more praying for me, at least in public. Sad, since I love to pray. To me, their attitudes, about everything from politics to religion to football, are provincial, narrowly constructed, intolerant of diversity. Across the town square, at the quaint cute public library, I noticed when I first stated going that there was no culture of quiet, that all the employees kept up a steady flow of talk; they gabbed like magpies. This differs from all the other libraries I have ever haunted; Library of congress, Harvard, and numerous university research and city public facilities. Always a quiet culture adhered, except here in my small town. So, when in Rome. I couldn't beat 'em, so I joined 'em. Amazingly, I lasted about three years before being tossed out. I talked too much, I was too intellectual, and my comments were too outside the mainstream,, and included too much political history and current events, too many comments about the Bible and religious tolerance and diversity. Expelled for six months. I decided to make it permanent. When they accused me of harassment, I knew I was licked, the victim of a savage smear campaign. I have concluded that the intolerant provincial nature is nation wide, an all American trait. Consider this; a majority of the American people, on surveys, indicate that the reason Bin Laden knocked down the world Trade Center in 2001 was hatred and jealousy of American prosperity, freedom, and virtue. Omitted from mention is any reference to American foreign policy, including sending a half million member army to Saudi Arabia, and using it to attack, conquer, and occupy Iraq for twenty seven years, killing hundreds of thousands of people, mostly civilians. As if what we love to call "Islamic terrorism" has no motivation in our own behavior. Provincial? With blinders. Tragic, almost to the point of being humorous, like all the small towns I have lived in.