I simultaneously respect and appreciate cultural, sexual and religious diversity but sometimes it’s difficult to immediately understand or accept when it’s pushed on you.

I live in Toronto, an exceptionally diverse city. Without fail, on my way to work, I’m constantly harassed by Mormons. I want you to understand, I enjoy meeting new people and I appreciate random conversation. However, such conversations become tiresome when you know how the conversation will ensue. Idle chit chat followed by some pronouncement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saint’s. It wouldn’t be so bad but for the fact that when they’ve started their sales pitch they have the same disposition and tone of a used car salesman. One can only say no, respectfully, to the same person so many times before there is a guarantee that the message falls on deaf ears.

Keep in mind here that I’m not criticizing their beliefs or the dogma associated with it. I’m complaining about the approach that they use in an attempt to proliferate their religion.

Imagine, it’s 7:45 am, you’ve had three hours of sleep and you have bags under your eyes that people sometimes confuse with baseballs. That’s when they, and I don’t use the term “they” in a derogatory sense, want to talk to me.

I attempt to look up at the ceiling of the bus and immerse myself in counting pixels on the advertisements around me… anything not to make eye contact, lest the sales pitch begins!