The Everyday Club

8/22/10    Ralph, about 30
Outside a singles bar in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, a young man (Ralph) stepped out for a smoke. I asked if he would mind if I asked him an unusual question, and he was immediately curious. I could tell he was somewhat inebriated because he had lost his sense of proper personal space, and, being much taller than myself, towered over me. He also dropped the "F-bomb" in everything he said. "What do you think happens after you die?" I asked. "Oh, I don't know, I think my energy just travels on and takes some other form. Why are you asking this anyway?" "Oh, I'm just working on a project" I told him. "What kind of a project?" "It's called the Great Commission" "Huh?" "Its a religious thing. So, did you have any sort of religious upbringing?" "Catholic" he told me. "I take it you're not Catholic anymore?" I asked. "Oh I am, I mean, I still have the same values, and I'm going to marry a Catholic girl someday and raise my kids in the church." He told me he doesn't believe in God and thinks church is just a big business scam. "I'm a salesman, and I see all the sales techniques I use on the job being used in church" he said. I asked how his future children might react to a parent who doesn't believe in God but insists that they go to church. "Don't you think they'll see the hypocrisy in that?" He didn't seem to be concerned. I asked some other challenging questions, and I believe I won his respect enough for him to read what I gave him and ask them of himself when he is more sober minded.