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I really like bumperstickers. They're a means of self-expression--a way to make a statement and show people what you stand for. Too many bumperstickers on your car, however, are a problem. You need to know how to edit--how to apply Coco Chanel's admonition that "less is more."
Take my car, for instance. I love this car and plan to keep it until it is a "classic." As a '98, it very nearly is. I have a few choice, well-placed bumper stickers on the back of my car. I shall now describe them as they would appear to you if you were stuck behind me, fuming in Charlotte rush hour traffic.
Beginning with the back window, actually, bottom left corner, you would behold two stickers. One says "Proud to be a Democrat" and features a jumping donkey. Self-explanatory. Just below it is a tattered yet much loved sticker in the shape of a Georgia license tag that says, "ALMN BROS." If I have to explain this to you then the point will be lost--just buy The Road Goes on Forever (Allman Bros.) and you'll understand. That takes care of the window. Now follow me to the bumper.
On the right side is a "Coexist" sticker, the letters of which are fashioned to represent various religions, etc. (Interesting side bar: I love this message so much that I attempted to propagandize my office door at the university. The sticker was up for only a few days before a narrowminded miscreant tore it off! I replaced it with this message: "You can tear off my 'Coexist' sticker but you can't stop religious tolerance." No one has taken that. Yet.)
On the left side is my Obama sticker--possibly irritating to some Republicans-- but just to the right of that is the bumper sticker that generates the real disapproving looks. It reads: JESUS WAS A LIBERAL. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people glancing at my bumper and then shaking their heads in disgust as they walk away. I can only surmise it is a response to this shocking sentiment about Jesus.
Maybe words such as "liberal" are just too fraught with political ideology to allow for serious consideration in today's culture. So why is it on my car? I posted it quite deliberately with two kinds of "readers" in mind: those who would crucify us liberals as "unchristian" and those who aren't sure what to believe when it comes to Christianity but who have been scared away by the narrowminded "interpreters" of the bible. Yes, I posted this bumper sticker to encourage people to think and to question, for themselves, what it might mean to them to consider a claim that Jesus was a liberal. He was. Jesus challenged the government, befriended the marginalized, and urged at least 12 guys to drop everything (families, jobs) and follow him.
Not only was he a liberal but he was a rebel. Oh, that gives me an idea for a new bumper sticker: a head shot of James Dean and a head shot of Jesus. The message could be . . . what? Rebels with Cause(s)? Only the good die young?
For the love of ... someone at your university, supposedly an enlightened, erudite individual working in a veritable sea of diversity, attempted to censor you?! Is religious freedom considered fringe in this country? That's outrageous. Why do so many care what others believe? Why isn't religious belief or lack thereof a personal thing? Quite frankly, this is what irritates me about organized religion in general. Those disapproving glares that you get are only so far along the continuum before extremism takes over and then all the talk of love and peace and heaven is replaced with exclusion, disrespect and so often violence. Good for you for posting your beliefs, but I don't believe the closed minded get it. In 2004 before the election, I had a bumper sticker on my car that read something like, "I think we need to start seeing other countries" and some frightening curmudgeon pulled up next to me at a light, honked and held up a book with GW smirking on the cover. The guy was yelling at me and enraged at my little rectangle of expression (unfortunately, I let emotion take over and flipped him the bird). I think there will always be this hateful, frightened and dangerous crowd. I think they're spawned from the same ugly place that gave us Nazis, the Kmer Rouge, the Taliban, the Crusaders, Janjaweed...
ReplyDeleteOk...first of all I love your writing...period! It inspires me in a way no other "writer" has. I guess you can say you are an awesome role model ;) Secondly, I believe you are very correct in your statement "Jesus was a liberal" because those who read the Bible and go to Church should see...that was what He was.
ReplyDeleteContinue to write!!! I very much enjoy reading what you say!! :D