Hello friends, I was just doing some final edits of my book and I came across this chapter that reminded me of the importance of having experiences.  This was one of my favorites and many life lessons came from it.  I will be sure to share with you when the book comes out.  It is about life, and how to live it more abundantly.  It is called "Strange and Peculiar" and it will be out shortly.  The following is a excerpt from the book, it is also something that I wrote as a post long ago.  You might gain a little extra from it today. I entitled it "Hoot N Nanny."

 

 Hoot N Nanny

Someone once suggested to me that I could be a Christian life coach.  They told me that I was motivating, knew the word of God, and suggested good books.  You see, I was thinking of a business to start due to my recent reoccurring predicament of being unemployed.  I thought about it. . .

 

During the time that I wasn’t a practicing art teacher anymore, my supposed dream job that I worked my entire career to acquire,  I took on several odd jobs.  I remember this one time, I was a telemarketer.  My place of employment didn’t see it as telemarketing, but we were using the cold call method to find customers to buy a service.  I tried to change my mindset to the business woman who needed to close accounts but the voices on the other end of the phone line almost always called my bluff.  “Who are you with? Is this a telemarketer? Stop calling here.  We are not interested!!”  With several hundred clicks in the ear, angry voices of annoyance, and cursing that met the qualifications of a sailor, I became convinced that I was indeed a telemarketer.  This one time I remember, there was an older man that answered with a particular southern twang in his vernacular.

 

“Who-er ya wit naw?” he insisted over and over.  I gave him an answer over and over but he didn’t seem to understand.  He got more and more frustrated.  He finally screamed into the phone with all his frustrated old man clamor “I don’t got time for this here Hoot-en- Nanny!”  He hung up on me.

 

           Now, I didn’t know who Hoot or Nanny were at the time, but I took great offense by this man’s rude demeanor and cantankerous tone. I was hurt that people were so disturbed by me doing my job.  I just wanted to connect people to a service that they may need now or later.  I had a great boss who was listening in on the end of the call.  He told me not to worry about it.  He said that the man’s anger probably had nothing to do with the call, but that he was projecting his anger on to me about another issue.  This calmed me at the moment, but it still bothered my psyche.

 

“I don’t got time for this Hoot N Nanny” continued to ring in my ears for the next few weeks in a down south accent reminiscent of my nieces’ Georgian speech patterns.  I looked it up out of curiosity of what that man meant.  I had assumed that he was completely annoyed by the call and therefore didn’t respect my employment choices.  Google is a gem. 

 

Hootenanny: an informal social gathering usually accompanied by folk singers and dancing.

 

Okay. So, the guy was basically saying that he didn’t have time for the song and dance.  He didn’t have time to go back and forth with me trying to figure out why I was calling him.  I personally felt like he had a hearing problem; wax build up or a hearing aid malfunction.  Either way, he didn’t have time to listen.  He was on the offense.  He didn’t want to hear what I was selling.  I, on the other hand, didn’t feel like I was selling anything.  I was just doing my job.

 

Friends, I realize that I don’t 100% understand people. I realize that no matter how much I write, talk, or proclaim my faith that people will not 100% understand me. We don’t understand each other and so many things get lost in translation.  We are not reading all of the signs that can be read in the presence of being fully awake.  I am now talking about communicating to the world in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  People automatically take offense.  People are automatically set in confusion about what Christians are trying to convey to the world.  People are automatically offended and I, as a Christian, am offended by that offense.  Who doesn’t want to live free and in peace with their creator forever?  I am not trying to sale you anything.  I am not trying to convert anyone.  I am just doing my job.  I am sharing and talking about a service that you are going to need sooner or later.  The great news about it, is that it is absolutely free.  It doesn’t cost anything because it was already paid for.  It is easy, you just say thank you for the gift.

 

We all are communicating through a series and collection of personal colloquialisms.  The meanings of what we know are only complete through our personal lenses.  The truth of what the meaning is maybe more easily understood through the interpretation of someone with similar experiences, from a similar group, with a similar background.  I understand through life and through growth that my perspective is only my own.  If a person is open enough he will grow into the knowledge that his personal perspectives may keep him trapped in a lot of unknowing.  We may block the very things that we need because we become offended by them.  Our minds read new information as either something helpful or something harmful.  The harmful things we often build a defensive over, we combat, we bury deep down, or we throw them completely away.  This is how we protect ourselves from what we consider nonsense.  This is how we protect ourselves from things that have hurt us in the past.  This is why the things that I write in this book will be very strange, peculiar, and offensive.  

 

I bring you a message that so many know in their heart as the truth, but it is also refuted by others to be lies.  If you are indeed on the other line of the phone or this text message, please know that it is not my intention to offend you.  Perhaps you are just trying to protect your time from a conversation that you think will lead to nowhere.  Please believe me, I am not a telemarketer.  I am just trying to connect you to a much needed service that will help you with your anxiety.  This is why I have to be comfortable in who I am and also in the way that people perceive me to be.  I always have to keep my confidence in this position of employment.  I have a job to do and regardless of what people think I am doing, I have to do what my boss tells me to do.

Until Next Time

-Tamorra