I’ve worked as a freelance writer and publisher since ’95. Every now and then I go on what I call “Freelance Adventures.” During this time, I jump into a world in which I’m completely unfamiliar, work for a while, and totally experience something I otherwise wouldn’t.
When I embark on these adventures, I usually follow these rules:
1. I must treat this as a real job. The point is to experience life from another point of view. I work my scheduled hours, I never slack off, I’m an actual employee.
2. I must present my best work.
2. I must last at least 90 days.
3. I must document the experience and I must not neglect my regular job: that of a writer/publisher.
4. I must try to take something from the experience, knowledge, understanding, make it somehow enhance my work as a writer and fellow human being.
5. Whenever possible, I take a temporary position. It’s only fair to my potential employer.
6. If I ever find a position I like better than writing, I must seriously consider continuing. That hasn’t happened yet. 🙂
Off the top of my head, those are my guidelines.
For example, I’ve taken adventures as a Walmart employee, a vegan chef, tailor, doll maker, and Activities Director at an assisted living facility just to name a few.
It was in my capacity as a former Activities Director that I found this news story interesting.
It seems that Brigit Clarke-Smith of the La Costa Glen retirement community in Carlsbad, CA organized a discussion group called “Atheists Anonymous.” She and her fellow retirees gather together to discuss topics such as gay marriage, marijuana and other seemingly interesting subjects.
Clarke-Smith, 84, is a La Costa Glen resident who started a group called Atheists Anonymous two years ago. Clarke-Smith was raised as a Christian, but said she quickly decided it wasn’t for her.
“When I was 8 years of age, I used to play the piano for the Sunday school,” she said. “I’d play ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to Him belong, he is weak and I am strong.’ And this poet who was the superintendent of the Sunday School would come over and say, that isn’t how you sing it, and then she’d tell me how to sing it. So when I’d get to that part again, I would just go ‘hmmm hmmm hmm’ because I said, ‘I’m not weak, I’m strong. And I don’t even know who He is!’”
When asked if she was a christian, Clarke-Smith decided to start Atheists Anonymous. Here’s the story:
“I thought, that’s a strange thing to say, and I said, ‘no,’ just like that,” Clarke-Smith said. “And she said, ‘well, what are you?’ And I said, ‘I’m an atheist!’ And she was angry, and she walked right out.”
A woman overheard Clarke-Smith and shared some advice.
“She said, ‘oh, we’re atheists, but we want to remain anonymous,’“ she said.
Clarke-Smith decided to start a group for atheists like that woman. She named it Atheists Anonymous in her honor.
“They couldn’t be free in the United States of America to say they are atheists, and I thought that’s just terrible,” Clarke-Smith said.
The group began with 16 members, now there are 90. Sadly, not all is as rational as it could be.
“I’ve been called anti-Christ, I have been called a Jew lover, and one day I was standing in our mail room, and two ladies were looking at a poster that said ‘Brigit Clarke-Smith, Questions? Call Me,’” Clarke-Smith said. “And one of them said, ‘you see this woman’s name? She’s a sinner, she’s going to Hell, and she’s going to burn forever.’ ”
While La Costa Glen isn’t affiliated with any religion, the assisted living facility I worked with was very religious. That was fine for many of the residents, but I always wondered how those who didn’t subscribe to religion or even that particular brand of christianity fared. This quote from the article summed up the situation well.
Franz Burkholder, another La Costa resident and Atheists Anonymous member, said he feels people in the retirement center accept every religion, but not the absence of faith.
“The issue is we are priding ourselves on being tolerant of other beliefs and religions, still we do not tolerate the beliefs of atheism,” he said.
For that reason, most of the Atheist Anonymous members agree they should not change the group’s name. They plan to continue holding meetings and fighting for acceptance from their peers.
“It makes a statement,” the Atheist Anonymous member Pepper said. “We have to accept who we are, how we think, and not sugar coat it.”
“And we’re not bad people!” Clarke-Smith added. “We’re not bad people. We’re good people.”
“We’ve got to put faces to the word,” Pepper said.
