If you don't have something nice to say...

I saw a bumper sticker on a telephone pole today that said "If it will send you to HELL, it's not safe sex." It bothered me for numerous reasons. First of all, I just don't like the concept of attempting to make a profound statement through a sticker. Also, the sticker was on public property, which is probably against the law, thus making the sticker-onner a hypocrite. Most importantly, though, it's possible to be a Christian and exhibit your beliefs in a much more effective manner than anonymously harassing people who live a different lifestyle. I don't know of anyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, that would benefit from seeing that sticker. It can only draw out negative reactions and perpetuate the stigmas that already exist about Christianity. I seriously doubt anyone's life will be changed for the better after seeing it, let alone cause a conversion experience. I don't know the motives of the person that put it up there. Maybe it was a joke. If only I had a sticker that said "let he without sin throw the first stone." I'd stick it right under the first one and then we'd see who'd get the last laugh.

Secret Agent Man

I had a one-sided conversation with a Pittsburgh FBI agent today. See, two Fridays ago when I was at the mall for an eye appointment, I saw an Arab-looking man in the parking lot taking pictures of the building and the surrounding area. I watched him for a while and decided he was suspicious. Call me a racial profiler, but I just didn't like the looks of things. Not many people want souvenir pictures of the outside of Macy's. Feeling a bit unnerved, I came home and told a few people, but didn't really take much action. Now, two weeks later, I still had an unsettled feeling about it because, hey, maybe it's nothing...but if it's something, boy would I feel guilty for not speaking up. I started looking around on the FBI's website for what to do if you see something like that, and it told me that I should call my local FBI's terrorism office. Of course they would force me to make an actual phone call. A handy internet form would just be too easy. So I mustered up some guts and made the call. I expected an operator to tell me to dial one for terrorism tips or something, but all I got was a man answering "Pittsburgh FBI." I told him I wanted to report suspicious activity. I got transferred to another gruff-sounding man who took my information, asked if I got a license plate number (I didn't), and said thanks and goodbye. Afterwards, I felt kind of dumb because I'm sure they get lots of useless tips like that all the time, but I was just trying to do my part to fight the war on "terra." Maybe I wasted 30 seconds of an FBI agent's time, but at least now I've got a clear conscience.