To make others feel like a piece of sh#t. Why the hell do they do this? i wondered this today while watching my dad's new wife. They always have some made-up project that came out of nowhere and they want use you because they see that you still can't work and try to rub it in that you are not working. What do they want from me? I qualified for disability for a reason you can't fake the damage that has been done to me. And mormons acting like this and walking over you is a big contributer to the trauma. Do they do this to everybody or did they just try to walk on and destroy me. I am saying it here and now they always need that one person in the family to turn on and abuse, they just do, something in the religion makes them do this. It happened to me, and it happened to a cousin of mine. She found out the church was false beyond any doubt before i did. I still thought i was the f#ck up bad guy outside of god's kingdom thinking there may have been a small chance it was legit and i underestimated the secrets of god and the temple. But anyways why do they pretend to be busier than they really are? Is it jesus points? Is it to show off? Is it a narcissist thing? I know d@mn well they don't care about the real world and the present moment and their minds are only on the afterlife. This really has always bothered me for some reason cause i have gotten by their actions many times. If anybody has a badass answer to this it would be much appreciated. Trying to understand the mormon mind is a trip. I think its just basically a large tape on repeat and they don't know anything else.

It was that very reason that I ordered my first large coffee.
I realized that none of my Mormon friends took time out to just
Sit and visit for a few minutes like other people do during a coffee break. Up until then I was never asked to join my friends who did drink coffee. That was twenty years ago and I still enjoy coffee with friends

I think we have been told so often what to do for most of our lives that we either never learn to steer our own course or
We forget how to.

It sounds like you are being taken for granted. Feeling used and under appreciated are nasty feelings and often hard to crawl out from under. There is not enough time on earth to waste it with people who disrespect you and give you grief.

First of all you owe no one any explanation concerning how you choose to live your life. It's none of their business

I have actually had to end a couple of associations for the very
Reasons you have described. One lady wrote me an awful letter
However I never replied and rejoiced over no longer having her in my life.
Mormon busyness is not just in your imagination
It bothered me for years. Now I no longer care. I don't understand it but just know that it is annoying.

Thank you i am so glad it is not in my imagination. I have concluded that my only option is to completely ignore all of them even to the point of moving and changing my phone number. I am serious they are hindering my recovery on purpose because they know i am doing way better than what they are used to. It is so f#cking annoying i can not describe it and they are always planning trips and they have to tell you where they are going every f#cking time ESPECIALLY if it is out of the country they definitely have to tell you that and while they are gone they want you to water their yard. I can not f#cking take their pretend busy and traveling competition any f#cking more.

You don't have to move. Get yourself a cell phone that allows you to block numbers and block theirs.they block phone messages as well as text messages. If they e mail ignore it and mark it as spam. If they come to your door don't open it. Don't get into any conversation with them. This is where silence IS golden

I did block them from calling but hopefully they don't text me. I don't want to move but maybe it would be good to not get triggered every d@mn day. I am always the one moving to get away and i am so sick of it.

They have done this sh#t to me as well and to some of my cousins who are less active in the cult. they really do act busier than they are and put others down. They really shouldn't be doing this to anyone but to do it to someone on disability is really low in my opinion. And YES I swear there's something about the religion that makes people do this! Id walk in on my own family gossiping about me all the time very obnoxious. Maybe it is some sort of narcassistic trait. It just bothers me when they give a big heartfelt talk in church about how "loving" they are and then the next second turn around and act like this. And what your doing in life really absolutely none of there bussiness they should seriously just be worrying about themselves its actually a very childish thing for them to do.

And i especially hate them acting like they are the mentally sound one and everybody else is below them and mentally ill. That sh#t needs to end across the board, there are so many people that became mentally ill because of the church and the cult family members that it is sickening and some of those people killed themselves because of it including myself but i was brought back to suffer for five more years, thanks god for having no healing abilities, its been awesome to try and repair myself piece by piece f#cking hell.

Ugh I'm sorry Badass :( ya Mormonism always made me feel like I had to push myself so hard to prove a point as well. And it wasn't healthy for me at all. And YES they totally do make you feel like your mentally ill and below them! I actually overheard someone asking my super tbm bro one time why I didn't go to church anymore and he responded by telling them it was because I was mentally ill. Or how about I don't want anything to do with the rediculous cult?!

And they would call me mental and act like I had so many problems and they were perfect SO annoying! And ya I know what you mean the sad thing is when I was a young teen I felt like I was a very happy mentally healthy person but the way my cult family members treated me actually gave me some pretty severe mental health problems and ya the cult family members DO make people mentally and isn't Utah like the highest anti depressent users and have a very high suicide rate? Its so sad :( and ya they totally acted like they were so above me ugh so annoying!

"The boner needs to be healthy and ready for action at all times" hahahahahaha oh Badass you crack me up! "Women need the boner" lol lol that is so true we do! Were not a sexual prairie flowers like the nutty cult teaches at least I know I sure am not! Lol ugh all the guilt and shame over something so natural I remember being taught that you even had to keep your thoughts clean? Really? How in the hell am I suppossed to do that?! The guys would have to wear a big cardboard box and talk in a falsetto in order for the man ho to be able to keep her thoughts clean all the time lol

when I went to church I honestly thought I was probably the only one who didn't keep there thoughts clean but I realize now that's most likely not true lol I feel like keeping thoughts clean is a very hard if not impossible task I don't have the best self control either so if you ask me to keep my thoughts clean what do you think the first thing I'm going to think of is? Its like if you tell someone not to imagine a purple unicorn the first thing there probably going to imagine is a well....purple unicorn its just natural plus isn't telling someone to keep there thoughts clean a little COUGH...um hypocritical since the founder of Mormonism TOTALLY kept his thoughts clean and all lol

I was totally f#vking normal and healthy as a teen i think(not really sure surrounded by a cult my whole life) until the mission bullsh#t got pressed on me. I absolutely did not want to do it, even to the point of suicide, they made me f#cking mentally ill with their bullsh#t and i am not the only one this happened to. I actually believed them that i was truly mentally ill even though deep down i felt more sane then they were. Ruined my life.

Man i'm sorry you had to go through that badass no one should ever have to feel like that :( man that's so messed up how they push people to go on a freaking mission it really should be an optional thing without so much damn pressure I'm lucky I am a girl and didn't have to deal with that shiz. I don't blame you for not wanting to go I sure wouldn't have wanted to either! I do remember when my tbm bro went on his mission he told me "you know its only a few more years and then YOU will be old enough to go on YOUR mission. UGH I remember feeling kind of panicked and I was just thinking to myself "oh hell no HELL NO HELLS no! No way in hells BELLZ am I goin on a mission a week at efy was more than enough churchy stuff for me! There's no WAY the man ho would last on a mission! Sounds effing awful!

What i do IS nobodies business. I have worked harder than all of them combined i don't need to prove a point anymore. If i am determined to heal my mind and body full time then that is exactly what i am going to do. I never want to be at the mercy of anybody again, parts of my life were an absolute nightmare. And yes my family always gossiped about me and judged me i could never be enough for them they needed the scapegoat to their fantasyland. They claimed to be saints of christ but they were frauds.

Some people talk a good game. But it tends to catch up with them sooner or later.

For some reason, they decided I needed to help with a R.S. dinner. I was supposed to go by the 2nd counselor's home and help her fix something for the dinner. I got to her house late and she said something about how I must never have gotten over having twins or something like that as I always seemed preoccupied. Bitch. My husband was just cheating on me. I wonder why I would be preoccupied.

THEN the other counselor kept bothering me about coming to inservice. I work at home. She told me that next time, she was going to pick me up. I then stated clearly to her that I work and I can't go to some meeting until I have all my work completed.

They always think that we should put everything aside for the damn church.

Oh, I have to say also that my mother used to volunteer me to be the R.S. (when they had it in the middle of the day in the week) babysitter. I worked swing shift at the IRS. She'd argue with me if I'd tell her I couldn't or wouldn't. I think my dad finally told her not to do that to me anymore. She'd never ask me, just volunteer me.

Most of what they do is busy work anyway. My daughter used to do baptisms for the dead every week. Now she goes to the temple every week even in Alaska.

She did get home today and things went pretty good. There are still so many things left unsaid because of her being TBM and me being the failure.

Sounds like that's as good as could be expected. It must be nice to see her. This TBM and non-mo situation is traumatic for you and understandably so.

My feelings are torn this evening. I took a Xanax before she got here. We had a good "chat." And off she went with the guy she should marry to a movie (who works in Alaska with her and is from this ward). He's a good guy and we are good friends, he and I. Anyway, it is very emotionally confusing to me, all of it. I don't understand it all.

And THIS (for anyone who trolls)is why we exmormons have issues with all of you.

I wish i could take a million xanax when i am around family and mormons. Aaand this is why i go to counseling to stay alive and vent on this board a million times haha.

First of all I have read a lot of your posts over the years and
Please trust me on this...you are not a failure. You are dealing with idiots. When you go over to help a normal person they are usually very appreciative and say so. They respect you and are great full for what ever you do.

When you deal with idiots they are usually people who need to
Make someone feel inadequate or bad about themselves so they can feel good by comparison.they will never change and a lot of those kinds of people are drawn to the church. Their whole life is a competition.

Look for those people who are real and understand boundary issues.
The minute someone wants to fix you move on because you are not broken

Sorry I didn't mention that my previous post was directed towards C12

I keep having to tell myself that i don't need to prove anything to anybody anymore. I literally ruined my health by doing that.

Badass, the Mormon Church creates “make work” projects because it’s a means of cult control. In other words, “Don’t give members any free time to think. Keep them busy!” Make work projects are common to cults.

No too long ago, my TBM brother and sister=in=law were in my neighbor. I met them at the local wardhouse and offered to buy them lunch. They told me that although that would be fun, they had to get home because ... (insert church make-work projects here).

See, the fuckin’ church always comes first! Now, as for me, I’d rather shoot the shit with you and my friends here. And, I never feel badly or apologize for taking personal time just to be me (and yes, sometimes my boner is involved in my personal quality time).

So, Bro, be glad you don’t have make-work projects. Be glad you are who you are. And...take some quality tome with your boner...he needs love too! I love you, Badass!

I am starting to love my boner more, wait i meant my actual boner haha. The mormon church made me feel so ashamed of the guy and i realized today that that is not correct. Beautiful women need the boner hahaha and it should not be something to be ashamed of. And so the boner needs to be healthy and ready for action at all times i realized as well so sometimes he needs to work out in the off season if you catch my drift. An onanism type of thing, i learned this word from hie this week. There is no masterbaition anymore it is a proper onanism mmmhmmm. And i have always hated my dad and his projects through the years he always put the cult and the temple first and i have always resented him for it, it never f#cking ends, i feel like i was just an observer of his life and was never able to live my own. I still don't feel like i am free to live the way i want and it is a sad thing.

My experience is it is not just a Mormon thing. Some people are attention seekers. I do not feel bad at all when I hear about being busy, busy, busy. I think thank God I don't live their life. It sounds terrible.

I started to think that way as well today that i am glad i am not in that arena anymore and don't have to pretend to be busy towards everybody else anymore. I know my accomplishments and i am proud of them but i worked myself into the ground literally and i disabled myself with pushing to hard to prove a point. So i have to let that nonsense go and take care of myself and do what i want and need to do. It just exhausts me to hear about their pretend busy lives now. Project here project there, going to travel here going to travel there, I DO NOT CARE.

I understand. My health is shit, but it has to do with being a full time caregiver to a child who doesn't understand danger. I need two more surgeries, but worry about recovery. If I had tried to stay in the church, mentally I would have to be hospitalized and on all kinds of meds. I am not against them in the least. I don't think members are weak for taking them either. Whatever gets you through the day.

Besides, there was no good place for my child. He could not handle three hours of church. There was no way in hell I was going to trust the person they'd assign to him, so I could go to Relief Society!

Life is better when family is put before church.

abby Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My experience is it is not just a Mormon thing.
> Some people are attention seekers. I do not feel
> bad at all when I hear about being busy, busy,
> busy. I think thank God I don't live their life.
> It sounds terrible.

This attitude is big in the northeast. People like to speak of their business as if it were indicative of their importance. I literally think to myself,"God forbid,I'd never want to live that way." Then again, some are just type A and thrive in such a way.

My brother and his wife are Baptist. They most definitely put their stupid church activities and whatnot before anything else, period. He lives out of town. I'm old, work full time and in very poor health, and have an orthopaedic handicap. Yet, when I do try to make plans to see him, he ALWAYS cancels or leaves early or has me leave early because he's busy working for that church. At this point, I give up. Churches will always be here. Your loved ones will not. Boo to all churches everywhere.

Because...


"We all have work, let no one shirk, put your shoulder to the wheel."

Busy hands are doing the lard's work.
Idle hands aren't. And they might find something interesting to do -- like self-pleasuring. Oh, the horror!

:)

Oh you just gave me a memory of last year at christmas i was recovering from a shoulder surgery and my dad and his new wife came over and i really didn't want them there but you know mormons they have no boundaries and just walk right in cause hell they have a temple recommend and they shouldn't be denied anywhere. So they came in and i respectfully turned the tv to mute and i guess she watched what was on and i guess it was too inappropriate for her and made me change the channel. That pisses me the f#ck off to this day. I think it was an intervention show of people trying to recover from drugs, because i see my recovery as something very similar, and that show was very helpful and made me turn it off like she was some queen in my f#cking home. You have no power lady the next time you try to pull that sh#t you are done.

What the hell? I watch that intervention show all the time how is that even something so innopropriate that you would need to turn it off? That's pretty nuts. And ya they definitely do need to learn some boundaries! They do things like this quite often and try to force thee stuffy standards on people. They seem to think they are higher above everyone else and that the world admires there standards but really.....they don't.

Brownie you make a very good point it DOES scream cult doesn't it?!

What's this fuss I keep hearing about Mormons pretending to be bustier than they really are? Whats wrong with a little Kleenex here and there? Why can't Mormons pretend if they want to be bustier? And the young . . .

Busier?

Oh . . . Never mind.


(I read this wrong at first and it made me miss Gilda and her Emily Litella---what brilliant person.)

As you were.

I seriously doubt they are doing anything to make others feel bad about themselves. We need to be careful not taking things so personally and thinking people are out to get us when they are really just terribly self-involved and thoughtless. I find this with Mormons in all aspects of life - they are so busy thinking about themselves and all the unnatural requirements Mormonism puts on them and trying to impress everyone that most usually have no idea the effect their behavior has on others. That is why so many people find Mormons rude. Because they only think of themselves and their lives and their self-promotion. Not how it sounds or feels to those around them.

But there is a big difference between Mormons being clueless oafs and them actively trying to make others feel bad.

I agree with you.

I agree that sometimes people might simply not realize how there actions and words affect people and they may innocently say or do something hurtful without really meaning to I think were all guilty of that sometimes. I know I am However what I went through was definitely not me just taking things too personally sometimes unfortunately people really are out to get you.this behaivior continued on for many years and I even tried talking to the people who hurt me and told them to there face they were hurting me and they just smirked at me and the abusive behavior continued on.

. I have seen others be treated even worse then I was and it was NOT just some innocent misunderstanding. I am not saying all Mormons do this there are some very kind and loving people who are mormon who would not do this you really cannot judge all Mormons the same for sure. but it seems to me that these sort of put downs and abuse seem to happen quite more within the religion then out of it. At least from what ive seen and experienced. Not everything is done in innocence and when it makes people want to kill themselves then it is a definite problem.

Go to a pet store and watch hamsters running on a hamster wheel. There’s your Mormons. They think they’re in a race to heaven. Don’t let them drag you onto their hamster wheel.

Thats exactly what it is good call babylon. I thought about texting my older sister and ask her "did you get to heaven yet?" haha. But that would be pretty brutal she has seven kids and deep down i don't think she is happy. "Tell me when you guys get to heaven" i just feel like mass texting everybody that right now.

Perfect analogy...and to think they think they are getting somewhere.

I think it is BOTH self-and-church centeredness AND wanting to feel superior. It is a side-effect of competition, that in order to have winners, there must be losers.

In family dynamics, there is usually a family "scapegoat", and that's what many of us have been. The scapegoat, or "black sheep" absorbs all the blame and shame of the entire family.

I know for a fact, that busy-ness is a way of showing off, getting attention, appearing important, appearing socially popular, appearing righteous and "needed". Mormons appear to do good to others, but they are only self-serving and cult-serving.

Mormons express themselves in Facebook entries and Christmas letters. What I mean is, that their conversations are one-way. No reply necessary! I just listen to Mormons, and nod, and slowly back away. Mormons spout their couplets and sayings and "scriptures" at you. They bear their testimony at you. They say, "We miss you at church. We're sorry you are offended." They brag about how blessed (rich, well-traveled, how many children and grandchildren, possessions) they are. My friend and I kept track, once, for a month of Sundays, and no one ever asked us about OUR lives. "How are you?" is as sincere as "Have a nice day."

Can you remember having a light-yet-meaningful two-way conversation with a Mormon? I don't remember ever brainstorming with one. Meetings and projects meant that the Mormon in charge (usually male) would give all the orders, and the others would quietly follow along.

Mormons love "meetings." They do not love conversations.
Mormons have "classes", never discussions.

No talking in the chapel.
No loitering in the hallways. No time. Hurry along
No talking in the hallways, because meetings and classes are in session.
No coffee and mingle time, like other churches have.
No conversations; hence, no real friendship relationships.

Like the Mormon cult itself--it is all hype! Whatever the busy-body Mormons are doing is NOT more important than what you are doing. They are driven by ridiculous cult demands, not some internal God-generated super energy, as they would have you believe.

Don't buy into the hype! When someone brags about being busy, ask, "Busy doing what?" In all fairness, raising children and having a career can keep you very busy, but these things are necessary. Cult and temple work is just wasting your life away.

It makes me mad that such people make lovely souls like Cl2 feel like a "failure." In this case, it is DELIBERATE! Just like with shunning, these so-called "loving Mormons" are trying to force us into submission, so that we will return to the fold. They have been brainwashed into thinking this is for our own good--but, still, their tactics are evil. The results can often be disasterous. Cl2 and my best friend (also an ex-Mormon) should be enjoying the holidays with their children, but instead they are being shunned, or love-bombed, or "taught a lesson", and made to feel bad about themselves. The children they devoted their lives to, now feel that they are too good for them. My best friend's role as mother has been taken over by her daughter's TBM in-laws, and the cult. She isn't invited to the family's TBM-centered functions. She is an outcast, with her own children and grandchildren.

Sorry to rant.

Competitive people who are jealous of you, often have a skewed view of who you are and what your life is like.

It’s not just driven by narcissism. There’s the guilt. TSCC makes you play the “I’ll be good enough when” game. Good enough if you just work harder, pay more, pray more. Funny thing is, nothing is ever enough.

Nothing was ever enough you got that right and i figured out that game. I have said many times i could be nailed to a cross in defense of jesus and it would not be enough for them.

Ugh sooooo many meetings uh oh i'm getting triggered i am getting triggered hold me down haha. But seriously it was hell i almost thought that god truly was the leader so i went to all those d@mn meetings against my will. Some of those meetings were pretty creepy though it was one hell of a learning experience. Mormons can be weird and scary lets just put it that way. The badass just wants to be normal and that is it.

So sorry people are treating you like this, badassadam. It sucks, Why do they pretend to be busy and rub it in your face? Here's my explanation of the Mormon mind:

-- There's an endless to-do list for being a good church member. Everyone pretends they're doing it all even though that's not even possible. In Mormonism, being busy = being good.

-- Mormon culture emphasizes perfectionism. The leaders emphasize that anyone with enough faith can do everything the church asks of them. It's even in their scriptures that God won't give people anything that's too hard for them to do. By extension, if you aren't getting it all done, it's your own damn fault.

-- If they're "too busy" to spend time with you, it could be because they've been warned how dangerous apostates and ex-Mormons are, and they've been told they might catch our apostasy if they associate with us (even though they're supposed to love and fellowship us back in).

-- Mormons are taught from childhood that Everyone Else is watching them all the time. If they are just good enough (busy doing church crap 24/7), all the never-Mos, ex-Mos, and dangerous apostates will want to be Mormons (again) just like them! Even though this is utter BS, they believe it anyway.

So don't take any of their BS personally. It's them, not you. They're living in the pressure-cooker hell of Mormonism; you are lucky that you are not.

Keeping oneself constantly distracted with 'busyness' keeps the screaming thoughts (CULLLLT!!! Get out! Run awaaaayyyyyy!) from getting through to the conscious mind.
Slowing down & becoming present make the mind just too loud.

Beehive Syndrome, part of the Holier Than Thou pathology.

Yes this is it or atleast one of the its, good call.

A lot of this link is interesting, but I think #6 applies to this situation:

https://thewisesloth.com/religion/preaching-witnessing-arguing-christianity/15-mind-control-techniques-churches-cults-use/

In other words, busy-ness must be maintained. I think it both correct and incorrect that a person takes it "personally."

One one hand, it is personal. It is invading my space and time, and beyond that, it makes non-cult interactions with friends and family members unavailable, an alienation of affection. It is a cult-member's choice to remain in the cult, and in the same breath, insist that it is not a "cult." It's about personal responsibility, ownership of their own behavior. Rude is rude, no matter the excuse. We don't hear them saying, "Please excuse my behavior, but I'm brainwashed." No. That's how exmos excuse their rudeness, in our effort to remain connected, attempts to deny the forced alienation imposed by the cult. This giving of excuse is all one-sided, per cult rules.

Which takes me to the other hand, mine. It is my choice to remain in their sphere of influence and control, or not. Their behavior is not about me, but themselves, and their interests and pursuits. If I don't want the fecal matter with which they play to get all over me, I won't go around them. If I don't want to be their scapegoat, I won't present them with an opportunity to impose that role onto me - I'll stay away from them, and insist that they stay away from me.

Many exmos are stuck in refusal to alienate, a reasonable choice, but there are heavy prices to be paid for keeping mos in our lives. That's how it works. We want something, too, to keep our family and friends, and we pay for it by gagging on cult bs. It leaves a nasty taste.

Exmos also have each other, to help us through whatever level of alienation each of us has chosen.

In your case, badass, for whatever reasons you stay in touch with them, I would ask you to consider taking ownership of your choices, as this will empower you on a daily basis to choose the level of interaction you can tolerate on any given day.

Staying away is tough because they make me hate myself and it puts me in the bad guy scapegoat role that i am used to, i barely even want to help myself because of it, i asked god sincerely to take me in my sleep but no dice and do the family a favor, they know for me to get better i have to face the real truth about the church and that scares them, and it even scares me because i was heavily programmed to believe in it and totally engulfed in it from birth, nobody ever wants to admit that they were just a random person born in a cult instead of this great and special individual. My own grandma said i was screwed up in the head to my face a few years ago and i saw how the entire family has viewed me for a long time with that statement. It actually made me want to die more so i try to see if there really is a cia operation of the mormon church to take me down pushing the boundaries claiming cult to the right people but apparently there is no operation that will hunt you down and silence you but maybe i have to make way more noise. I kind of want to go head to head with these bastards that are really pulling the strings behind the idiotic apostles. I want to see their faces.

And i have found no exmos here so the support on the ground is just not here. I have found a few atheists but it is very different than an ex-mo.

I think some prophet said being idle is a sin. I say not getting to enjoy being idle is a sin

In my ward since my younger brother had his big argument against the Home Teachers and High Priests this summer(either June or July), it seems we've disappeared off the morg radar. This is in a rural area as well.

Nobody visits us to see if we're still alive, could use help with our property etc.. Or even if we're sick. It's like we do'nt exist. I think we're being shunned and gossiped about. It not like they know the effects of my depression medicine etc.. And having having boring morg church for 3 hours at 9am doesn't help much either...

White rabbits in Wonderland.

Exactly!

"I'm late...for a very important date."

It's not so much the busy-ness, that annoys me. We are all busy.
Maybe we aren't all busy making deals with high-powered executives, or saving lives, or picking up children who are waiting for us on a curb somewhere. Even when we are sick or out-of-commission, we are busy going to doctor appointments, taking your medicine on time, feeding and taking care of yourself. Even in our time off, we're busy living our lives--whatever that is.

What annoys me is the importance, the priority, that Mormons put on cult-related garbage. Mormons really, sincerely think their lives are more important than ours. I think the main reason is fear and threats. A Mormon had better be on time for whatever-it-is, or someone will humiliate them, or gossip about them, or punish them for being late! One way or the other, they will suffer the consequences for not obeying in a timely and perfect manner. That's a lot of pressure. My dog, whining at the back door because her dinner is late will not bite me or shun me--but the Mormon waiting for me to rehearse his music with him, will be rude and nasty, and will probably keep me later than I would like. To me, my dog is more important. That's the way it is. Priorities are personal, and are our right. (There are commitments, like airline flights, real-life professional appointments, and promises that should not be broken, but, face it, Mormonism is mostly useless busy-work.

I am guilty of doing this back to the Mormons who try to accost me on the sidewalk, at the grocery store, or at my door. I act very busy. I am very busy, and that's the truth, but I would always take the time to talk to a friend, because that is important to me.

I talk on my i-phone at the neighborhood Mormon grocery store, always multi-tasking. I don't pay attention to the shunners, that way. I get off the phone to say something cheerful to the checkers and baggers. There are some preachy former friends, that I actually tell, "I've gotta go. I'm late." They used to say the same thing to me, and I wasn't going to try to talk to them in the first place. Maybe it's a problem that I say that at parties.

Whenever someone rushed by me, I used to think, "If I were writing them a big check to cash, or wrapping them a present, they would wait for that.

The Mormons are too busy for ME, and I take that personally.

There's a bumper sticker that says "Jesus is coming! Look busy!"