\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What faith were you brought up in?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153None. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m atheist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nShe looks at me like I am a dog with only three legs.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel so soooorry for you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says.
\nI shrug. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m okay with it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I reply.
\nWhat follows is an hour long conversation where she, an elderly Mormon
\nraised back east, tries to find common ground with me, a young atheist
\nraised in the southwest.
\nWe are both human. That is the extent of our common ground.
\nShe tries desperately to convince me that Jesus had portended the
\narrival of more prophets. I gently remind her that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in
\nJesus. She talks about the miracles God has worked in her life. I nod
\nand commend her for her strength and faith in such dire times. Back
\nand forth we go until she reaches her hand out and says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153take my
\nhand.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I do. She looks into my eyes and says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153everything happens for
\na reason. You are meeting me today for a reason. Promise me. Promise
\nme you will go home and pray. A man never stands so tall as when he is
\non bended knee.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She says it with such resoluteness, such strength in
\nher eyes, knowing that she has spread a little of the magic she holds
\nso dearly to her heart.
\nI look back into her eyes and say: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nShe let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go, exasperated, and I thank her for coming in and step out
\nto see my next patient.<\/p>\n
-Barf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What faith were you brought up in?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153None. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m atheist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She looks at me like I am a dog with only three legs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I feel so soooorry for you,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she says. I shrug. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m okay with it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I reply. What follows is an hour long conversation where she, an elderly Mormon raised back east, tries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,18],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-my-cerebrum","tag-atheist","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.medicineislaughter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}