Since signing up with my current company, the first Saturday in May has been something I wait for with eagerness come mid-April. The first Saturday of May is a volunteer day in the city in which I work, one where people go out in the community to help the sick and elderly with household chores and yard work. Today was the third year in a row that I've taken part, the third opportunity I have had. It really is wonderful. You go out and help someone who needs it, appreciates it, looks forward to it. You sacrifice your time, if sacrifice is the word to use, and walk away feeling so great that it is almost as though someone helped you.

All in all, I had a great time... except. There were two moments when I felt awkward and unsure of how to handle myself. The first was when I was washing windows with another girl from my company and we started talking about a former colleague who, essentially, had to leave the company for mental problems. This woman is bi-polar and non-compliant with medication. I stated that I'd heard the theory that she didn't like the weight gain associated with her particular meds. I was then informed that non-compliance with medication is a feature of this disorder. This woman was schooling me in bi-polar. I did my bit, saying that there are varying degrees of severity etc. I didn't push the issue because she wasn't speaking maliciously and I didn't want her to know.

The second awkward moment was when the person we helped thanked us for what we were doing, telling us we should feel good and proud because we looked liked Christians and were doing the Lord's work. It isn't that I was bothered but that I was caught off guard. The GM of my company, who was on my team, said when our lady said 'you all look like Christians to me', "most of us." He knows that I'm an atheist and I appreciated his tact. It was just really weird and I have something to compare it to but let me first give this disclaimer: I'm not saying belief in any religion is the same as racism. I'm just saying that I have the same reaction. Have you ever had someone say something like 'I hate when so and so acts like that but you know how the blacks/hispanics/asians/etc are, always with this that and the other, etc'? You are taken aback by what they are saying and are then abhorred by the fact that they are trying to make it seem like you share their feelings. Again, I'm not saying it is the same thing with regards to the hatred et al, but that is the shock I feel when I am unprepared.