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Interesting. I find it far easier, in my profession, to become friends with Pagans due to the quality of people I work with.
- They work hard.
- They have integrity and will not tolerate those who lack it.
- They research things thoroughly to make sure they have proper information.
- They look to others' interests before their own.
- They don't use flattering speech but make sure the right thing is done.
- They despise political double-speak.
- They make sure a person is fully qualified before they're put in a position of leadership where others can be harmed by their ill preparedness or lack of leadership skills.
- They remove people from leadership when they fail morally.
In short, they are Marines.
I don't want to sound Oo-rah and blindly parochial about my service but I work around a quality group of people. They are not perfect, but I'll be frank with you, I get pretty impatient with Christians who are called to exhibit all of those character traits above and usually lack all of them. What frustrates me is that many Churches don't even try to instill these qualities into Christian men and women.
I actually have to go out of my way not to make all my friends Marines because I much more naturally get along with them. They don't have skin the thickness of tissue paper when you point out errors they need to correct. There are a number that are pretty good parents and invest a lot of time in their kids. They shame the lazy Christians I worship with in many cases.
But they're, by and large, not Christians (though a higher percentage than the American population are Christian) and so I purposefully develop friendships with the Church body I attend. The friendships actually rub against the grain of what I'm attracted to (in some cases) but I stir up affection for them. It usually takes me about a year and a half to actually "like" some of them. It was actually just this past Sunday as I was greeting some of them at Church that I "felt" warm toward some people.
As is the nature of my profession, I'll be out of here in another year and a half and I'll be crying that I'm leaving close friends.
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