LETTERS: HE'LL ACCEPT RIDES FROM CHRISTIANS

To the editor:

To the Speak Out caller who said he was a Christian and would not stop to give me a ride because he might speak about God and that would make me miserable: That person has just demonstrated how little faith he has that God is indeed going to kerplunk me into the lake of fire and brimstone when I meet my well-deserved miserable end. So little faith, in fact, that he is actually proposing to add to my earthly woes by not picking me up when I hitchhike, as I often do. Why shouldn't he join the 10,000 or so who already pass me by annually? Oh, where is the suicide hotline when I need it most? I mean, isn't it enough that I am going to be deprived of his company when he is lolling about on a cloud, twanging a harp and hanging out with the saints -- in short, doing every manner of thing except the one thing that people like to do most? (Credit to Mark Twain.)

Contrary to what he would like my hitchhiking sign to read, I will definitely continue to accept rides with Christians. If Jesus needed a quick computer program written or his dog looked after, I would be most happy to accommodate him, our philosophical differences to the contrary notwithstanding. Jesus is reputed to have had a benevolent attitude toward the humanity among whom he found himself. My guess is that if he drove, he might deign to give me a ride. I would like to ask the Speak Out caller: When you described yourself as a Christian, was it because you and Jesus when to different schools together? I cannot think of anything else the two of you have in common.

DONN S. MILLER

Tamms, Ill.