Monday, November 01, 2004

Critical Mass

Although I can be reasonably polite most of the time, it has to be said that I occasionally forget my manners. It's easily done in the early morning rush, not remembering to take them out of last night's trousers, or leaving them next to the keys; an easy mistake to make. However I do make sure I remember them for church. Yesterday, in mass, a man jumped the line for the Blessed Sacrament. He sidled out of his pew, ignored the lengthening queue and pushed right in front of me. He even avoided eye contact in that particular 'Traffic Light Gaze Avoidment of Speedily Overtaken Driver Who Has Now Caught Up' way. What is the social precedent for this? Should I tap him on the shoulder and quote Latin at him? Should I make a secret signal to the Priest and have him forcefully ejected? Or maybe I'll just clip his heels as he goes to kneel, leaving him sprawled on the cold stone floor as I step over his head on the way to salvation? I think there's probably a lesson on forgiveness I could learn from this... or Vengence?