so the other day i was at the store, getting checked out by a disgruntled clerk who thought she had the worst job in the world and that her co-workers were all dunderheads.

in honor of her (and people who have those really crappy days at work) i have a little story about my day at work today. it was fun. really.

i was having a great day, until a person showed up who wasn't supposed to be there. i get the job of telling him he needs to leave. the man, who believes he is anointed by God and thinks he is a prophet/healer/spiritual guide, tells me that i had "better not step up against the Lord's anointed", and tells me i can't keep him from seeing those he is guiding spiritually.

i smile and nod and tell him that if he has any concerns or questions, he can share those with the facility manager, and he says that he wants to leave his "testimony" so that we can "understand" him.

whereupon he goes to his car, brings back this 8 page manifesto, telling of how God anointed him... and how his journey led him into the hallowed halls of Mendota mental facility itself.

in fact, he shares how God told him his new name was John, and that he was the modern day john the baptist. he tells how he met a man at Mendota who claimed to be Jesus Christ. he asked the man if he recognized him as John, and the guy said he didn't know he was john. so prophet dude tells the man, "you can't be Jesus Christ, because if you were, you would have recognized me as being John."

now that's rational thinking... you're delusion doesn't jive with mine, therefore your delusion is wrong.

how about thinking, "you can't be Jesus Christ because he flipping lived two-thousand years ago, dude!!!!"

so yeah. in fact, that's about the only thing even remotely funny about this dude. he has a much darker side, far worse than the fact that he's off his rocker. he's got a record, and is a registered sex-offender. apparently, while he was "spiritually guiding" a vulnerable couple who somehow trusted him enough to let him stay in their home, he molested their daughter behind their backs.

it makes me so angry that our justice system allows people like this to walk freely in our communities. why let people like that out of jail/mental hospitals? they obviously haven't recovered! at least he won't be able to show up where i work again, but where else is he going to go to look for victims? or worse, what will it take to get him locked up again? who else will be a victim first, before it happens.

the scary thing is, he's not an exception. if you checked the sex-offender registry for your area, you'ld be shocked to find how many live in your town... and neighborhood. compound that with the fact that many of them have mental illnesses, that they don't take medication for, they're really dangerous.

so do me a favor, and find out who the sex offenders are in your community so you and your loved ones can be safer.