“Can I Get an Amen?” (standard:humor, 904 words)
Author: Godspenman	Added: Mar 11 2018	Views/Reads: 1750/1205	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
As I was sitting in my chair nursing my pain, I came to at least one conclusion. I am not going to ask people how they are unless I really want to know how they are.

An interesting aspect to people is their proclivity toward hypocrisy. By
that I mean we say one thing but we really do not mean it or it does 
not really apply to us personally. 

I was complaining about this to the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage
this past week. 

“Why is it,” I said most curiously, “people really don't mean what they
say?” 

She responded by saying, “I always mean what I say.” 

Being the kind of husband that I am, I refused to contradict her reply.
Therefore, I am not referring to her in these comments. People just 
don't say what they mean. 

For the past month, I've been having issues with shingles and nerve pain
all the way down my right arm. It's very painful and I hope it goes 
away soon. Let it be clear that pain and me are not friends. The sooner 
the pain leaves, the better it's going to be for me. 

But I digress. My condition has been a very clear focus of my life these
days. After all, it's my pain that I have to live with every day. 

It happened just the other day when somebody that I was passing on my
way into Publix said to me, “Hi, how are you doing?” 

Well, I thought to myself, he asked so I begin to tell him about my
condition and all of the aspects associated with it. Within a few 
moments I could tell he was not very much interested in how I was 
doing. 

I continued with all of the details and then he suddenly looked at his
watch and said, “That's interesting, but I am late for an appointment 
and I have to leave right now.” 

Well, okay, but after all, he asked the question I didn't. If he wasn't
interested in how I was doing, why did he ask? 

See how people say things they don't really mean? 

This happened to me several times with people I had never met before.
They asked the question about how I was doing, when I began telling 
them how I was doing, they had no real interest in how I was doing. 

That rather frustrated me. How I was doing was a very important aspect
of my life and sharing my pain with someone else was something I wanted 
to do. However, nobody was interested in my pain. 

It brought me down to a point of discouragement. I had to stay home for
several days because of the condition I was in. I could not drive and 
so I stayed home. 

Then something different opened up for me. 

As I was sitting there, reveling in my displeasure and discomfort, the
telephone rang. 

I answered the phone and it was somebody trying to sell me something.
They began by saying, “Hello, how are you doing today?” 

That is all I needed to hear. I began to tell him exactly how I was
doing with all of the pain and discomfort I was experiencing. I went on 
and on even though several times he tried to interrupt my little 
speech. He asked and so I was telling. 

Three minutes into my little speech, I heard the telephone go “click”
and there was nobody on the other end of the line. 

I sat back in my chair and smiled rather deeply. Why did this person
asked me how I was doing if he wasn't interested in it? 

It was quite an afternoon, I'll tell you that. I don't know if the word
got out that I was sick and at home, but the phone rang constantly all 
afternoon. Everybody asked me, “Hello, how are you doing?” And, I told 


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